Vestiges: Suo Potentiale
by MRAY 4TW
Summary: Despite his aptitude for magic, besting a demigod's challenge and sacrificing his own wellbeing to aid Star, his acts did little for his dismal reputation and self-worth. All of this would soon change, as his inner revenant evil urges him to be all that he could be... and so much more. They all believed that they knew Marco. They were wrong. (Evil Marco) (Markapoo & Miggs)
1. Admittance

**Vestiges**

 **Well, if I can sit and binge watch three whole seasons for a show in a short space of time, I reckon that it means that I'm a fan. Yeah, I haven't been watching it for years like some of you. I'm tardy-to-the-party, a Johnny-come-lately. But I've got passion too. All I need to do now is to pop open a vein and write something I hope I'll enjoy. I hope you'll enjoy it too.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Vs. The Forces of Evil. I never have, and I never will. And if I did… Hell, the pairing would probably** _ **still**_ **be undecided, just like it is now. I can't seem to make up my mind…**

 **You know… just like Nefcy.**

 **1.**

It was silent.

He sat on his bed wide awake in the dead of the night, trying in vain to gather his thoughts, as well as himself. His mind was a swirling mess of memories, contemplations, and occasional mumbled curses whenever he encountered a particularly nasty concept. After a while, however, he realized that this all came to be when he first returned to Mewni.

He didn't know when he first started developing feelings for her; that much was certain. The princess had entered his life abruptly while he was yet in school, and the responsibility of being her guide was thrust upon him. Arriving home the same afternoon, he had the (good?) fortune of learning that she would be boarding with him as a foreign exchange student, essentially wrecking his once prudent and normal life.

He _knew_ that she was tantamount to trouble. After all, how many people could set rainbows on fire?

A diminutive bird creature with an ego. An oversized monster-tentacle for an arm. Freezing time. An immortal reptile in a three-piece suit. The list went on, each new facet even more mind-boggling than the last.

But he'd realized _that_ already. He'd come to terms that he enjoyed her day-to-day magical shenanigans. He gained worthwhile experiences, but he went wrong somewhere along the line.

"Why am I here?" the teen muttered.

That indeed was _the_ question.

After his return home, he found it hard to readjust to his daily life, much like the incident that cost him sixteen years of technical aging in an alternate dimension, simply due to a simple misunderstanding. He'd begun to enjoy and adapt to a wonderful, _exciting_ new way of life that revolved around the Butterfly. His friends quickly grew tired of his regales of his exploits. His parents worried about his state of mind. His girlfriend of a short time, Jackie, essentially dumped him because of his obsession with his souvenir cape, which turned out to be made from the King's old meat blanket.

And his response to what was his traditional way of life was to tell it _goodbye_ and to rejoin Star, whom he had begun to develop feelings of romanticism for. Truly, he'd lost his sanity. Not to mention, she didn't exactly welcome him with open arms and to be fair, he wasn't exactly perceptive to the underlying hints either. She had moved on with Tom, no less.

He (Marco) had moved on as well. From best friends to strangers who shared some memories. From the castle to the laundry room. From being carefree to a squire. From a glorified servant to a third-wheel.

He was fifteen now. He'd had another year of living to grow smarter, and that he has. He was intruding on the princess's life. She'd settled into her new role, and he'd returned only because… what? His life lacked excitement and danger? Star, who had confessed to having a crush on him, would have been a rebound girl to replace Jackie?

So many questions. And there were more.

But not tonight. Not now. He'd already lost too much sleep over them. But one thing was certain.

Things and times changed, and it was time that Marco Diaz did too.

He used to be timid, afraid, overly-cautious. Adventuring had taught him to be bold, fearless and daring. There was no lesser of the two but there was room for _combination_. He'd use all aspects of all he had gone through, to patch all the cracks of his character, better himself on a whole and become all that he could be, and _would_ be.

Come the new dawn, he was going to right a few mistakes.

It would start with admittance, and acceptance.

* * *

"Star, you got a minute?"

The teenaged girl looked up from brushing her teeth. The solemn tone of the best friend's voice was already making her start to worry. "Yeah," she mumbled around a mouthful of paste froth. "You okay?" She noticed that he hesitated almost at once, but he eventually got over it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess. It's about me being a squire. No… that's not it…" He hemmed and hawed for a bit, "it's about me coming back to Mewni. I'm sorry for just dropping in unannounced, you know what I mean?"

Star merely shrugged. "It's all water under the bridge, Marco. Geez, that was such a long time ago."

"It hasn't even been three weeks, Star!" Marco blurted impatiently. "Just hear me out. Do you remember Song Day-"

"Let me stop you right there, Marco. Tom and I are-"

"Together. I know. And as your best friend _and squire_ , I support you one hundred percent. On second thought…" Marco gave a long exhale. "No. That's not true. Guess I'm still a little insecure. But Star, just listen. This is about me, okay? Hear me out. You had a crush on me while I was still with Jackie. Even if that songwriter guy didn't say anything, you told me yourself before you came back to Mewni."

Everything had gone quiet. If he didn't know any better, Marco would have thought that the whole castle stopped all activity within its walls just to allow him the utmost peace to vent out his troubles. He could feel his own nervousness rising the more and longer Star stared at him, waiting for him to make his point, but he forced himself to remain steadfast.

"You've been my best friend for almost a full year now, but it didn't matter how long it was. I just knew that you were in trouble, and it wasn't a question for me if I should come help or not. It was automatic for me, I guess." He felt a few beads of sweat sprout on his brow as he felt himself near the heart of the matter. "But after everything was straightened out and I went back home, I had a hard time readjusting, just like when I spent sixteen years trying to earn my dimensional scissors from Hekapoo. My friends, my parents, even Jackie had a hard time dealing with me, all because I kept bringing up how awesome Mewni was and why I had a cape, which… heh," Marco chuckled at his own misfortune, trying to lighten the mood. "Turned out to be only a blanket that had a running cord at the top. We… broke up."

"What?!" Star was hearing this for the first time. "You and Jackie?! But you two hit it off! Although I was wondering about the long-distance thing…"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Marco muttered as his eyes fell. "But after that, I came back to Mewni. Maybe it's because I was heartbroken. Maybe it's because my old life was too boring without you around." He didn't even have to look up at her face to know that she was probably feeling a little self-satisfied to hear this. "But what I'm ashamed to admit is…" He shuffled nervously as he doubted himself whether or not to confess his feelings. "Jackie said… heck, even _Tad_ told me that I had a crush on you. And I think that… they were right."

She, admittedly, had started to lose a little interest in what he had to say, but as soon as he said the last, she felt her toothbrush sag out of her limp mouth and fall into the bathroom sink. Mustering up her will, she spoke the most intelligent thing that came to mind.

"…Uhhh…"

"Star, please. Let me finish," Marco pleaded. "I'm also starting to think that I was going to start seeing you like some sort of rebound girl."

"What?!" A deep frown marred her face with anger. "Marco, if you think that I'm some sort of idiotic princess who's gonna wait around for a guy to just move on from a girl, you've got another thing coming!"

"Well, it's already here." the boy said calmly. "You moved on, and I respect that. I'm a little glad, I guess. Maybe even a little jealous of Tom. But I'm happy for you. Don't forget that."

He didn't sound entirely truthful. No, he was honest. He was merely unsure if he believed his own words. But if he could get over himself to admit something like this, then she'd esteem his candor. "Okay. But does this mean you're going home or something? Why are you telling me all this?"

"No." He folded his arms, fidgeting a little. "I'm staying. What, you want me to leave?"

"No, no!" Star cheerily exclaimed, albeit nervously. "I still need my squire-ly best friend!" She was already stepping over to him to give him a side-hug, one he reciprocated with the thought of 'friend-zone' riding his mind, clearly audible. "I don't know how I would've managed without you being here! Like when I was sleep-portaling! That could've been a real disaster, am I right?"

"Sure, sure. I was only telling you 'cause I just wanted to square things out. So we're cool, right?" He awaited her response with apprehension, hoping he'd get a decent closure.

"As cool as a Winter-storm Hyperblow." A chill ran down her spine when she thought of how she had frozen the Pixies when they had tried to wed their queen to Marco's friends. " _ **Really**_ cool. But why are you telling me all this? Are you dating someone else? Pony-Head? Kelly?" She could already feel traces of jealousy in her veins, though not something she herself was aware of. "Hmm… what's that squire's name from Quest Buy? Higgs, I think it was?"

"No, no!" Marco waved his hands frantically. "I'm gonna focus on myself for a while. And between you and me, all of this been really stressing me out. Like how the other squires act like turds, keeping your secrets from your parents… I don't want to go all wrinkly with white hair."

"Nah, you won't." Star was about to return to brushing her teeth but found her toothbrush in the basin. With a small amount of disgust seeing that it was touching some of her previous toothpaste-spittle, she washed it off thoroughly before applying more paste.

"So you're not gonna try to send me to Lavabo again, right? The knight guy who does the castle's laundry?"

"No! No… ohh…" With an air of realization, she grasped that Marco had found out what she had been trying to do when he'd re-arrived. That is, try to thrust him out of her life without making it too obvious. "Marco, I'm really sorry-"

"Everything's fine." Marco could already feel his tense shoulders begin to relax. "I guess you could say it's all… water in the sink?" Marco turned on the tap, letting the water flow forth as he laughed lightly on his own terrible wordplay joke.

"Water _under_ the _bridge_ , Marco. And as your best friend," Star cautioned with an air of amusement as she turned the pipe off, "take my advice and never ever make that horrible joke again."

Right, right. He only said that to try to end their disquisition on a lighter note. Everything, however, had worked out well in the end. Tension had been rising between him and Star; he might have made things worse, but he had learned a long time ago that things had to get worse in order to get better. Wasn't that what he believed?

He did feel better now, didn't he? Indeed, he was. Marco regarded his toothbrush and felt a Love Sentence vibe coming on. Somehow, he looked over at Star and realized that she was feeling the same when she began to sing into her toothbrush in the pretension that it was a microphone.

" _Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh_!" Star sang the vocalization merrily, starting the tune to their second-favorite song. Marco barely knew it himself, but he'd already started to join in, singing into his own toothbrush.

" _Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh_!"

" _It was no secret, the way that we feel…_

 _A love that's so pure, a love that's so real_!" Her notes were bright, yet had a somber undertone. Marco smiled regardless and carried on.

" _You showed me your world, and it felt like a sign_ ," Marco's tenor rang out.

" _But you acted too slow, and you ran out of ti-i-ime_!" Star replied exactly how she felt, the lyrics falling in line perfectly. First verse completed, they went on to sing the chorus, eerily reminiscent of the Love Sentence concert they had attended. It did not matter, for somehow, Marco found some closure in the song he was searching for.

" _And now we'll be just friends… We will be… just friends!_

 _And now we'll be just friends… Be… just friends…~"_

Song completed, Marco turned again to Star, who had a wide grin on her face. "Just friends?"

"Best friends," she reaffirmed with a nod. It was what he needed to hear at that point in time, and began to know peace for the first time since his re-arrival on Mewni. But it was not enough. There was still a large amount of personal confliction to sort through, and his two minds were, that of the one from his thirty-year-old mentality and his current biological age were even now trying to merge. The slight, chronic headache that he'd had resting in the pit of his brain was growing, but it could be dealt with later. At least for now, a great deal of the _heart_ ache was gone.

Yet… something new had replaced the latter. No, not a substitute. It was always there, trying to make itself heard over the roar that had been the hum of his nature. It was nearly-nonexistent, yet clearly had virulent desires. There was no longer that loud, petty distraction, and the dormant iniquity became conscious within the Diaz.

" _ **Destroy… The Wellspring…"**_

* * *

 **Today, Marco didn't have much of an issue to 'fess up and tell Star about his turmoil. It might be a bit OOC, but he shouldn't have any more insecurities. We all remember 'Naysaya', (shudders), and I'm sure that if he can be honest with a crush he had for years, he can talk to Star more comfortably given that she was originally his best friend. Besides all that, it's a work in progress. Hope you'll stick around.**

 **As to my yet-to-be-decided pairing, Daron Nefcy is driving everyone out of their minds right now with the ships. How can there be so many ships in one show?! (It's not a harem anime, woman!) Forums are frantic and shippers are going to war with tactical nukes. I'm staying out of it… for now.**

 **EDIT: As of the posting of 'Christen' (Chapter 9), I finally made up mind as to the shippings that I'll write about. (Or _attempt,_ whichever's more apt to describe it.) It's Miggs and Markapoo. That aside, this fic is primarily Adventure/Drama, not Romance. It means that this fic is plot-driven, while romance happens on the side. Furthermore, since this fic falls in the Drama genre, the romance follows a course of character exploration, not as 'cute' fluff. These disclaimers aside, I trust that the fic will still interest you, but I make no guarantees. I write as a hobby, not for fan-service.**

 **PS: In case it wasn't obvious enough, I'm a fan of using Latin; it's in my parting words, and it's used in the title of the fic. Also, I contacted the admins and got them to add Kelly to the drop-down character menu. Any Kellco shippers out there, you're welcome.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	2. Acceptance

**Vestiges**

 **Back in the saddle. I worked most of the night since posting chapter one to cook this for you. Here's chapter two.**

 **2.**

Lavabo took out the marker from its case and marked an 'X' on the current date. 'Three weeks,' he thought to himself as he gazed at the calendar, 'since he's been here. I should probably end his tenure.' Hearing a battle cry and the sound of the death-throes of yet another laundry-related monster, he grinned to himself.

"Then again, the boy's a great help."

There was no doubt about it. Ever since Marco had passed by the basement laundry room and offered his services, Lavabo had finally allowed the rigid tenseness in his body to relax. He had worried for the boy's safety at first but that was no longer the case. Nowadays, the knight wasn't surprised to be able to find the time for leisurely tea-breaks and to even invite a few of his friends down for a card game or two. In fact, all the huge stray piles of forgotten clothes that accumulated over the years were reduced to small deposits; it helped that there were now two people to fight the laundry monsters and to do the laundry itself, alternating in turns.

And yet, why was he worried?

"That's the fifth lint-catcher monster in the past three days," Marco observed, "and they just keep getting stronger when we wash the clothes from the old piles instead of the ones that come down the chute every now and again." He walked over to Lavabo and gave the man his weapons back, going into detail how close the fight was. "They're even starting to use the clothing to protect themselves because they seem to know that I don't want to damage the clothes in the first place."

"My boy, I do not understand why you insist on washing the older piles. Many of the owners have passed on or are no longer living in the castle. It's only because of respect for my father's creed why I have not burnt them." Lavabo poured some tea from a thermos into a cup and tried to offer it to the boy, who declined. Shaking his head and taking the tea for himself, Lavabo went on. "Your daily battles because of the older clothing, while courageous, are unnecessary."

"They're sentient, Sir Lavabo. If they're capable of intelligence, then they have to be **snuffed** out before they become even more dangerous." Marco's tone became clearly darker at the drop of the word, and Lavabo could only stare at him with apprehension. He himself hadn't thought that he was _killing_ them; the word he would have used instead would be 'vanquish'. More 'knightly' in speech, if there was such a word, not to mention being a greater ease on his conscience.

"Errm… fine," the knight mumbled. "That they are. Other squires, all but you and I in my own beginning, have died when they fought the beasts formed from the laundry on their own. I respect your mettle, but nowadays, you seem to fight with a different fervor. You fight not to preserve your life and certainly not to preserve mine. Furthermore, you do not seem to fight because you believe in the creed of my forefathers. At first, I could claim that you were merely here to pass the time but now, it's as if you're only here because you enjoy fighting the laundry monsters… and _relishing_ their demise."

Marco barely had a rise to the knight's insinuation. "First off, I'll admit that you're kinda right. I'm just here to pass the time. And as for 'killing them', haven't you been doing it for years?"

The knight nodded. It was a point well taken, although it did not pass his notice that the boy did not answer if he actually _enjoyed_ dispatching the leviathans. Lavabo wondered if the lad had _intentionally_ dodged the accusation, and decided that he had to make his choice. _Now_.

"My dear boy, regardless, I would love to take you under my wing as a squire. But aren't you already one for the princess? Without a doubt, it's a high honor. Why putter along and spend your time here when you should be at her side?"

Marco shook his head in the negative. "Nah. She's usually with someone else. Between you and me, it's the kind of relationship that requires _privacy_."

"Dating? Courtship?"

"Yeah."

The knight was quiet for a while, pondering how to let the boy go without making it obvious that he was trying to oust him from this potentially mental-breaking environment. "I see. But you should remain on call, in case she needs you."

"Her boyfriend is super powerful. He's a Lucitor, you know, a demon spawn. Besides, Star's a magical princess, Lavabo. She even has her wand. I doubt she'll need me for _anything_."

"I see. So that's the issue. You feel unimportant?"

"No-"

"It does not matter!" Lavabo was adamant. "You should always be in proximity to her, and not to distance yourself for any reason! At the very least, secure some permission from her to be here. Should anything happen, I'll be the one in trouble if tragedy befalls you."

Marco was no fool. He could tell what Lavabo was thinking and frowned deeply. It was unfortunate; he could feel himself being strengthened from his time spent doing the laundry. While a rather menial labor, it was physically and mentally taxing and like a rubber-band, Marco had adapted and trained in tandem, becoming all the stronger for it. His skinny arms were already hardening, and his body besides was beginning to tone. It wasn't quite there yet, but he had a 'Before' picture in his room and could tell that helping the knight was easily the best workout he'd ever had, if nothing else.

It was a loss, but it was one he could accept. "Fine. Thanks for allowing me to help out."

"No, Marco. I'm grateful." Lavabo reached across and shook the boy's hand, one the teen reciprocated vigorously. "You and I have done far more in three weeks than I've been able to accomplish in years. Hopefully, you'll still be on call if the princess excuses you to assist me."

"Okay." Marco stood up and bowed at the head in respect for the knight. "Take care."

…

Marco walked absentmindedly from the reaches of the basement area, not really having a destination in mind. With Star being spirited away by Tom most of the time and everyone who Marco had relations with had closer bonds with Star, he had little reason to even seek them out. It wasn't out of disgust or scorn, but the only reason he even associated with them was that he happened to accompany Star in the first place. River might be the only exception, seeing as they got along quite well without Star being present. The same would for Kelly as well; they'd gotten closer (as friends) recently.

" _ **Destroy… The Wellspring…"**_

There it was again. That blasted voice kept him on his toes. At least a dozen times for the week, it repeated the same thing in the same damned monotone. It'd worried him at first, but Star had informed him not to fret about it.

"Oh sure," he grumbled, "don't worry about any voices in your head. I bet that if Tom had told her that he had voices in _his_ head, she would've been trying to sort out the problem with him."

In point of fact, Marco had sought help from other people; Queen Moon, Hekapoo, Omnitraxus, even Rhombulus and River himself, although the latter two had no idea on how to assist him. In all honesty, neither did the others and in varying degrees of worry, told him that it was a first and that they could make neither heads or tails of what the voice meant. Soon afterward, the voice had become diminished, and he'd been happy to notify them that it was gone. Now, he was too ashamed now that it'd returned. He could always go back to them but now he was sure that they'd only lock him up in an asylum. He could chalk it up as a magical side effect of the party that Star threw for the denizens of Mewni, both Mewmans and monsters alike, or something else. Nevertheless, he hoped that his problem would just go away on its own.

" **A… problem…?** "

Marco stopped walking. "Huh?" Did the voice just make an answer based on his thoughts? If so, then the matter was more serious than he had initially feared. He stood still for a long moment but after hearing nothing, continued walking. "Just what I needed. A conscious voice in my head that basically classifies me as crazy, Lavabo probably thinks I'm becoming psychopathic and I can't even- Oof!"

"HEY!" There was a mini-collision, and upon the first sound of metal hitting the ground, both parties scooted backward from each other to avoid being hurt as shields, spears, and swords fell in a loud clatter. "Geez! It's you? Watch where you're going!"

Marco slowly looked up from the pile, having narrowly dodged a sword from slicing into his foot when it fell. The voice was eerily familiar, for all the wrong reasons. It was the voice that told him who it was, and as he saw the attire, he became even more despondent. By the time he saw her face, his mood had gone completely sour. Sure enough, it was one of the first people on Mewni to make Marco miserable since his return. "Higgs. Sorry, okay? It won't happen again." He started to help her pick up the weapons, but she chewed him out for his poor efforts as he stacked them incorrectly in her arms.

"Ugh! I'll do it! Why don't you go be useless somewhere _else_?" The words cut him to some extent, and her saying additional curses under her breath only worsened the wound.

"What's your problem with me, Higgs? Is it your time of the month or something?" He was about to storm off, but her words held him in place.

"On no. It's just the usual. You know, making myself useful in my position that I worked for, instead of getting it as a favor." She unknowingly hit all of his buttons and Marco doubted that she would've cared if she had known. "Instead, I just had to bump into the one guy who's here just because of the princess's graces."

"I've done plenty. I've done more than you! I've fought Ludo and Toffee, while you were probably hiding with every other knight that I didn't see around. Even the Jester, Mime and Songwriter had more guts than the lot of you. They were braver than the Knights of Coward-lot." She didn't have much of an answer to this, much less the reference, and stammered a bit while kneeling to gather the weapons on her own.

"You got lucky that you didn't have to do anything about commands; I had to listen to my knight's orders. I was helping him protect the corn from monsters. The people of Mewni didn't starve to death before they were liberated. You think that everything else just goes on standby when one thing goes wrong?"

"You-" It occurred to Marco that she was actually jealous of him. Despite his considered low-key status as of now, he'd failed to take into account of others. He recalled the state of the commoners; they were meager, worn and somnolent. He got the same impression when he took in Higgs form, noting her thin wrists, her muscles which were a visible cry for a protein diet and her threadbare clothing. She was probably from common stock.

It was so easy, Marco realized, to forget about the common-folk of Mewni. To forget about the monsters of the yonder woods. To forget about the rife between the species and social classes when eating from the King's table.

He didn't feel much pity for them. Instead, he started to feel a measure of anger, of _hate_ … for the Butterfly family. Such a feeling was foreign to him, but it felt justified. At this moment with a clear mind, he began to help Higgs by picking up all of the large shields under his left armpit and the spears under his right. "Whatever. Where were you going with these?"

"What are you doing?" Higgs asked, befuddled. "I can do this myself-"

"I'm helping you carry these things."

"Go to hell." Deciding that she'd just return for the items she didn't have in her arms, Higgs walked away as disgruntled as a bull. Her mood worsened when she noticed that he was following her. "Can't take a hint? I **don't** want your help."

"I don't wanna help you either, so at least we can agree on _something._ Now lead the way."

* * *

Marco stepped into the room, taking care to step around the clutter of weapons, assorted clothing, raw materials and other miscellaneous items. "Geez, I never thought I'd run into another girl as messy as Star."

"It's organized." She pointed at each thing and item in turn, identifying them easily. "Just make sure you don't sit in that corner over there, or you won't be able to sit right for a week."

"Hmph." He rested the food thermos on the table (after clearing a small spot on it) and went over to the squire. "So what's new today?"

"Sharpening swords and weaving chainmail," she responded in humdrum, knowing that it was the usual tasks she had, "I'm leaving the shields to be polished later when I'm sleeping. It's the safest thing to do while I'm unconscious." In a rejoin, Marco shook his head and took up the nearest shield, a dry cloth and the bottle of wax-… the very same bottle of wax he'd failed to purchase for Star at the special sale at Quest Buy.

"I'll polish the shields," he mumbled as he began to do the deed. "Just make sure you get some _real_ sleep tonight. And don't forget the food on the table. The thermos doesn't keep it warm forever, you know."

"Whatever, dummy." The insult didn't carry as much bite as one would think it would, and by now, Marco believed that Higgs called him that in an endearing matter, bizarre as it may seem. In that same vein, he was sure that the squire was warming up to his presence, as he did with her. Higgs wasn't all that 'bad' a character as he'd observed over time this week whenever they associated. Truth be told, it was rather easy to develop sociopathic issues like hers when things weren't going the way one would want; better sleep and better food daily (courtesy of his un-obligatory help), did wonders for her countenance and even Marco could admit that she cleaned up well. That is, not unattractive and actually above decent.

As it was with Lavabo, he aided another simple person, and felt all the better for it, although his anger at the Butterfly family only increased because of it. They lorded over the masses with their magic and veto authority to keep themselves well off while the lot went deprave. Even he had to wonder if Star was unaware of her citizens' situation, but he knew that she'd walked amongst them. She'd done it before, and it wasn't something she practiced. It went to show that she obviously didn't like spending time in her dimension outside of her castle. Somewhat hypocritical of her, as the princess had told him she was trying to live up to her duties and obligations. But what could Marco do?

" _ **Destroy… The Wellspring..."**_

There it was again. The voice… was it actually speaking the answers to his thoughts? Well, he would readily agree, if the so-called destruction had no fallout, made things a bit more 'equal' served to make everyone, in general, better off. But he had no idea of performing such an act in the first place, nor did he know where this 'Wellspring' was, or that if it even existed. Hell, that was **if** the 'voice' was existent in the first place and spoke with truthful conviction.

"Hey, Higgs." At the call, the squire looked up from her sword sharpening to regard the Diaz.

"What?"

"Do you know of something called the 'Wellspring'?"

"Never heard of it," she said bluntly, "and why do you wanna know?"

"It just came to me. Never mind." Post-dialogue, they went back to working in a rhythmic silence, intercrossed by the shear of the blades being sharpened and the buffering of the shields. They hardly even recognized it themselves, but interjecting one another kept them in pace and in doing so, got more work done. It was identical to lumberjack double-sawing, and they kept up for an hour. Even so, Marco could feel some of his energy waning and was seriously reconsidering whether the title of being a squire was even beneficial in the first place, given the nature of the responsibilities that came with the office.

"You know?" Marco started, "I've been meaning to ask. Why did you become a squire?"

"To become a knight."

"And why did you want to become a knight-"

"The only occupation nowadays that would put food in my belly." Her answers were short and sharp as if she was speaking about a topic she disliked. "Why did you become a squire?"

"To become a knight."

"And why did you want to become a knight?"

"Life back home in my dimension was boring."

"Un-freaking-believable." The girl rolled her eyes at the inane response whilst laughing good-naturedly, pondering whether or not the boy was serious. "The mental asylum must be losing its edge. They're not keeping all the crazy people locked up."

"Ha-ha," Marco laughed sarcastically as he went back to polishing the shields. They didn't remain silent very long before Higgs broke the monotony.

"Marco? Why are you helping me?"

"Got nothing else to do. Plus, I kinda felt sorry for you." He could easily tell that she was displeased with his response but he didn't try to appease her. The truth was like that; he knew a thing or two about honesty, and it was better said than bottled up. "It's also because I guess I hate how this society works and… what you said back at Quest Buy during the sale was kinda true."

Higgs had no idea how to react; anger at being pitied, intrigue with his view on Mewman politics or to make a tease along the lines of 'hurting his feelings'. She settled on remaining silent.

"You were working hard, and you still do. I mean, doing harder jobs while you're awake and doing the rest while you're _asleep_? Being a squire is basically being a servant for a knight, and having to work your fingers to the bone while they receive credits and honors to their name. I was just a squire for the joke of it. So I guess I'm trying to make up for that by making myself useful."

Higgs scratched her cheek in thought, leaving metal filings there on accident. "Why do I get the feeling that if it was Baby Man or Old Guy you ran into… that you wouldn't have helped them? That you were only willing to help me?"

"Those are _your_ feelings." The boy said in deadpan. However, the girl supposed that she figured out the answer, and smirked like the cat that ate the canary.

"It's because you _**like**_ me, don't you?"

"I guess that beneath all that bitchiness that you use to repel people, you're…" he made the so-so sign with his hand, "alright. Kind of."

"Meh." She dropped what she was doing and cleaned her hands with a washcloth. She was about to head over to the thermos to get a bite to eat but was interrupted by the opening of the door to the small room. A giant of a woman, a knight no less, walked inside in a braggart gait.

"Higgs!" she yelled boisterously, although the girl was no more than a few meters away from her. "I've come for my shield! I hope I'll be able to see my face in it…" the woman's voice trailed off as she noticed Marco polishing her shield in his lap. "… This… time…"

Marco raised an eyebrow at the bear-like woman. "Is something wrong?"

"You're Marco, right? The princess's…" The woman made no attempt to hide her laughter. "'Squire'! What are you doing with my shield?"

"I'm helping Higgs polish it. I'll make sure you can 'see your face in it'," the boy stated calmly, already wondering if the woman was trying to make a point.

"…" The woman's mirth ceased altogether. "That's going to be a problem. You and I, Marco… we're going to see Sir Stabby about this. It's a violation."

"A violation of _**what**_?"

…

"The boy violated the terms, Sir Stabby!"

"This has to be an exception, Lady Whosits!" the man thundered. "The terms revolve around Marco Diaz himself! If he chose to help her and it works to your benefit, then there is no need for this quarrel!"

"I demand an additional month of labor! She was supposed to fulfill her tasks on her own!" At Lady Whosits exacting an additional term, Marco clearly heard Higgs gasp. He was growing increasingly frustrated and had to yell to make himself heard to the two knights embroiled in their shouting match.

"What's this ABOUT?!"

Sir Stabby was the first to gaze over at Marco and shook his head. "This, my boy, is about a bet. You see, Marco, it is no secret to us that our squires feel overwhelmed by their duties. Often, we make bets, and the loser offers their squire for a tenure to the knight who won. It doesn't matter what the knight does, as both knights had originally made their terms and accepted them. We're bound by our honor to respect those terms."

Marco nodded, although information was lacking. "Fine. But what was the bet? What kind of term did I violate?"

"I was getting to that. You see, Higgs…" he pointed at his squire who was clearly trembling with trepidation, "proposed a bet that would offer her a chance at respite. Lady Whosits' squire, Baby Man-"

"My own son," the woman offered as a reminder.

"Yes… your son," Sir Stabby added as he thought of the youth. "Agreed to the bet as well."

Marco's face lowered into a frown, already having a foreboding feeling of where this was taking him. "Higgs asked you to propose a bet?" He turned to the girl, who was already looking ashamed. "What was it about?"

"Don't tell him, Sir Stabby!" Higgs cried. "I'll just do the additional month by myself-!"

"Higgs!" her senior reprimanded severely, "remember your place, and accept your position with conviction!" He turned once more to Marco and told the lad of the facts. "Higgs learned that you were assisting Lavabo. Simply put, she told me to propose a bet that you could not possibly survive longer than a day, three at the most."

Marco's jaw fell. "She said… _what_?" he said weakly.

"Made me happy, boy!" Lady Whosits exclaimed. "I mean I thought I was backing the wrong Warnicorn horse if you know what I mean. A risky gamble but instead of getting yo'self killed, you lasted for three damn _weeks_! Lavabo even told me that you were fighting some of those monsters on your own!" It sounded more like a self-gratification rather than general gratitude for the boy's apparent 'win', yet he had no focus on this.

His mind traveled back by a week and thought of how Higgs had seemed even more bitter than she had been during the sale at Quest Buy, and why she was carrying an exorbitant amount of weapons to be processed and cleaned when he'd bumped into her by accident. Nor did she have her usual workload, but it was doubled, and she was angered that not only did Marco had life easier than her as a squire, but his performance, unknowingly, cost her the bet. And by actually helping her to do the work that only the original losing squire was supposed to do, it had essentially doubled her working term. That is, if Lady Whosits had her way. After all, it would mean that her squire, her own son, would get to take it easy for another month.

Marco's eyes became shadowed by his hair when he held his head down. It did not matter if Higgs had gotten to know him and became all the better for it. It did not matter if he had begun to rethink if she was a 'good' person after all. He could only think of how she just accepted his _un_ - _begrudging_ help and did not even bring to mention why she had so much of a workload in the first place! He would have understood. Wouldn't he?

"Marco! I'm sorry!" Higgs entreated, a notable sound of sorrow etched into her voice. "I'm sorry! But this was before-… this was before I got to know you!" Tears were already welling up, and it was only out of respect for her office why she didn't allow them to breach their dam. "I thought that if I told you, that we wouldn't be friends anymore-"

Marco turned away from her so savagely that he nearly heard whiplash in his ears. "Lady Whosits, Sir Stabby. Is there a way to reverse my violation of the bet when it concerns how long she should work?"

"We could deliberate how long you were helping her and _then_ tack on the subtracted time, but a case like that usually ends up being argued for months, not to mention souring our relationships." Sir Stabby murmured. "The only other way to ascertain a resolution is for the knights, or the person committing the violation," he mentioned pointedly, "to duel the offended party until either one surrenders. The outcome of the duel decides if the offending party gets to lift the punishment or share in it. And as it so happens… I dislike fighting Lady Whosits."

"It's not my fight either," Marco said grimly. Without sparing anyone else a glance, he walked out of the room furious at both himself, Higgs and all the blasted rules and laws and creeds and knights who used their squires as collateral and-

" _ **Destroy… The Wellspring…"**_

If it would change this pitiful way of things, then Marco was more than willing to accept.

"Where... and _how_?" he asked darkly.

"… _ **Listen…"**_

* * *

Behind closed doors again, Higgs looked at the calendar. She'd been working by herself for three weeks with the increased load, and Marco, still with his awkward reasoning, had lent her his aid in all that he could during her final one. Marking off the day, she lifted the calendar to see that an entirely new month awaited her for her duties, that which was still doubled for another lunar cycle. She found that did not care. Instead, she only felt remorse for her acts and could only regret how she'd had Marco pegged wrong; in fact, the squire was cogitating when and where she'd gone wrong. Accepting his assistance? Making the wager on his demise? Taking out her annoyance and anger on him at Quest Buy?

She contained herself and held it in.

Going back over to the thermos, she opened it to find the food inside, noticing that it was of a quality deserving of the King's table, although most of it was apparently homemade, as if by Marco himself. It had lost a little of its core heat, but it was still warm. After a small prayer of blessing, she started to eat around the guilt-formed lump in her throat, and there was no one around to judge her as a tear rolled down her cheek and dripped into her food.

* * *

 **Hold your fire! (Puts up hands) Let me say that I still don't know anything about the pairing for this fic. To be honest, I know that Higgs is an imperfect character, and I enjoy working and fleshing out characters like hers because they are able to** _ **avoid**_ **retconning. You can imagine gaggles of plots with them, and it's safe. Furthermore, I guess I'm alright with her, and she's a bit misunderstood. Mostly jealous, yes, but also misunderstood. I don't know if I might eventually try to pair her with Marco (not completely against it) but hey, who knows who the 'lucky girl' could be? Starco, Kellco, Miggs, Markapoo, Mackie, Jarco... and it goes on... and on. Someone might even start something with Starfan13. Who knows?**

 **Damn, that sounds so sexist of me. My apologies.**

 **Besides that, I think I did pretty good with this. Just like chapter one, I churned this out in one night, but I'll soon have to start rotating with my other fics. That's how the cookie crumbles.**

 **By the way, Lady Whosits is that giantess of a knight that tackled Marco the first time, and was also in the episode 'Trial by Squire'. Her squire isn't stated in canon that he's her son, but I thought they looked similar.**

 **That's it.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	3. Zenith

**Vestiges**

 **I'm glad you all found my fic to be interesting enough to read (thus far) and in some cases, follow and add to favorites. Hopefully, I'll get you to use your keyboards, too. Hint-hint.**

 **3.**

Plodding through the snow-covered streets of the stump-paraphernalia themed village, Marco sipped his brew from his mug-shaped stump in between his undertone grumblings. The frigidity bit through his red sweater and skinny jeans, making him curse his own lack of foresight to dress warmer, though he had nothing else in his wardrobe. Taking a long swig from his mug, the swill inside that warmed his insides was imbibed altogether too soon, already leaving him to feel even more defenseless against the cold. He tossed the stump-mug towards a filled garbage bin, not even bothering to care if it fell on the bin or not; his own annoyances were already rubbing him the wrong way too much. It was Star's birthday and as far as he was concerned pertaining to gifting her, he'd come up short.

"Her fifteenth birthday? I can't even ask what she'd want. Not like I'd be able to get it in the first place."

No, no. The teen came to realize that the notion, while true, was unfair in accusation. He recalled his six-hundred-and-fifty dollars hidden in a book in his bedroom and shook his head. He'd spent far too much time the night before wandering the halls of Quest Buy for a gift he could present to the princess, ultimately failing to find anything even remotely good enough. He browsed for everything he had the time to peruse in other places as well and as far as Marco could tell, Star either had no use or had the ability to procure nearly any item in question.

She was royalty and as such, came from a family with a tidy amount of riches and assorted collaterals. There was also the matter of her being a _magical_ princess at that, and with her wand, was able to conjure, summon or transmutate whatever she needed whenever she wanted. Marco knew he was in a difficult situation; what could you give the person who already had everything?

He had a few ideas, withstanding these fastidious odds. For one, all of her purchases were heavily monitored as of late to curb her overspending habits. Despite that, anything costing the amount of money Marco had, however, was well within that budget. Second, she wasn't entirely able to form anything she wanted out of magic. She wasn't that well versed, for starters, and Marco knew that while her capacity for conjuring and summoning were nigh-unlimited given her imagination, she had issues transforming things that followed her requirements.

With these things in mind, Marco thought of the possible gifts he could give. They were both things which were either proscribed and impossible for Star to create or summon, or unable to transform from common items. Not to mention, the more superficial of the items had to be procured as fresh as possible due to its short storage life. However, by the time everything would be said, given and done, however, Marco wondered if he'd have anything left to call his own.

He stopped walking through the snow. There was nothing to gain in the act. He'd stormed out of the castle after the knights had offended him; was he that easily upset? He'd requested a sword in the reasoning that he'd need to be able to defend himself from a monster. Much less to the fact that the boy would not even bring himself to leave the castle due to the sub-zero temperature, they were of the notion that he would only gain false courage from wielding a weapon and get himself killed trying to fight something far stronger than he. It was either that, Marco reasoned, or the petty basis that they did not want to share their weapons. He'd already established that they were haughty and a proud set. He couldn't do much about their views, nor against the force they presented.

He tapped at his belt, checking if his own weapon was there. It was hardly a sword, nor was it as sharp; the corn sickle he'd taken from a shed wouldn't serve him much in a conflict with a beast he was about to confront. It was all he had, Marco thought grimly, and he'd be better off with it rather than being bare-handed. In all things considered, however, he wasn't quite fully committed to carrying out his outing. The small voice in his head, he himself that is, reminded him that Star, with all her existing benefits, didn't deserve what he planned to give her. The other voice in tandem seemed to agree with him in its unintelligible murmuring.

Said voice was usually plain in what it said from time to time and save for the too-few occasions it tried to speak something else, was too vague. After trying to garner information from it recently, all Marco could gather was that the voice…- or whatever it was…- only appeared to be a distraction at the worst and in the best possible scenario yet, his own mind trying to inform him of something after all this time.

" _ **Destroy… The… Wellspring…"**_

There it went again. Already ignoring it, Marco instead removed the dimensional scissors from his pocket, getting ready to open a portal.

" **Make… All… Equal…"**

Ah, this was new. Marco's ears perked up beneath his hoodie "Equal?" he asked eagerly. This sounded rather promising! Not much in the way of socialism, but more in the fashion that **he'd** stand on equal footing with everyone else, be it that they were brought to his level or he ascending to theirs. "Equal? All? You mean to make _everyone_ **equal**? How?" His voice betrayed how excited he was, given this change of events. Whether or not this voice was actually sentient, what it'd just stated was rather enticing even though Marco hoped that he wasn't being baited. "C'mon! Keep talking…" the teen urged, "just spit it out!"

" **Destroy… The… Wellspring…"**

The moment was already fleeting, but Marco's mood didn't plummet as much as his anxious heart-rate. It mattered little; an incidence of the voice to even speak so frequently within a minute was a first all on its own and it made the Diaz sure that some progress had been made. Never before had he welcomed the presence of the voice this much, and unintentionally gave it a little more leeway by wanting to hear what it had to say.

" _ **It… Creates… Disproportion…"**_

Marco raised his eyebrow at this, his body moving on autopilot as his mind ruminated on the disembodied voice's words. "Disproportion? That's like prejudice and social unfairness, right?" the boy said softly, thinking of his status. "Maybe this 'wellspring' or the whatchamacallit is actually a bad thing and I _should_ destroy it. But no one knows where or what it is, not even the Queen and the Magic High Commision!" His deliberations were interrupted by his cell-phone that rang out in his pocket or _vibrated_ as it were. (He'd deleted his inane ringing-tone a month prior.) Removing the cell to regard it, he saw that it was Star trying to reach him. After a moment of hesitation on whether or not he should answer, he dropped the call and further went on to turn the phone off.

"I'd better hurry up."

Jabbing the phone into his back-pocket, the teen then dug the scissors into reality and opened a portal, leaving Mewni behind.

…

"Did ya reach him?" Janna asked, taking a long drink from her stump-mug in an effort to get used to the taste of the concoction inside.

"No…" Star snapped her phone/mirror shut with a sigh. "That's the umpteenth time! He'd better not be outside. He could freeze in weather like this!"

Janna gave her a leery gaze. "Does he disappear often?"

"Um…"

"I'll take that as a yes. He's either got a girlfriend he's with, or he's dead right now. It's so ridiculously cold that it feels like Mewni's sitting in the back of a freezer."

" _Janna_!" Star chastised, "he's not dead, m'kay?" The punk teen merely shrugged in response as she tried to get comfortable on her stump, feeling another splinter of wood trying to stick her thigh.

"But doesn't that mean that you're alright if he _does_ have a girlfriend? You're focusing on the bit about whether he's dead or not."

"He doesn't **have** a girlfriend." Janna noticed that the Butterfly sounded rather _defensive_ , but chose not to comment on it. "Besides, if he has one, he would have told me…" Star began to consider Marco's standoffish behavior as of late and pondered if Janna's suggestion had any merit. "He would've, right?"

" **Would** he?" the emphasis furthered the girl's argument and Star's mood the wrong way. "And why are you asking _me_?"

Star had no reply. The blond walked away deep in thought and Janna could tell that she'd rattled her friend, although the reasons why it did was unknown to her. Jealousy, maybe? Insecurity? Second-thoughts about dating Tom? He was a cool guy as far as Janna decided, but everything was up in the air at this point. And Marco? What about _him_? Janna teen had only made her suggestion based on what she read about guys in her teen magazines and could be misconstruing what she thought about Marco. Marco was… Marco, in a sense. The 'safe' kid. A (nerdy) guy like that couldn't be that much of a romantic. Even if he was, Janna surely did not care. Did she?

"I wonder… did the ol' string-bean actually get a girlfriend?" Janna mused. "Hmm… nah. Maybe he-" A sharp knock came at the door, breaking her ruminations. Being seated closest to the door, she performed the expected obligation and opened the door. On the other side, there was a rather petite-looking teen who fidgeted nervously whilst drumming her fingers on a sword she had, giving Janna the impression that she didn't really want to be there. "Can I help you…?"

"Higgs!" The girl's outburst was over the requirement for the hinted need for an introduction and it was a fact she herself recognized. "Sorry. I… uh… stress," she explained lamely.

Janna studied the girl as if she were checking for cracks. " _Okay_ , _Higgs_ ," she drawled, "what'cha want?"

Higgs didn't bother to go into specifics of the nature of her business, that is, to give an apology… among other things. "I came here to see Marco." Higgs tried to look over the girl's shoulder, trying to see beyond into the room to find her person of interest. "The knights said that he'd be here?"

"Nope. Wanna leave a message for when he gets here?"

"Nah. But I'd like to know where else I can find him-"

"Drew a blank on that one, friend. Try coming back later," Janna suggested. It didn't pass her notice that the girl's eyes fell in disappointment, comprehending that Higgs did not want to simply _return_ later. Indeed, it could have taken all of the girl's resolve to even come here at all in the first place.

In the hours passing, long after Higgs was gone, Janna would come to believe that she was right.

"Maybe the string-bean does have some game after all..."

* * *

Marco ran gracelessly from the cave as he dropped the sandwich in a Ziploc bag he'd carried with him, hoping that the food would stay together. It didn't pass his notice that the sandwich had some sort of magical aura around it, but he had bigger things to worry about; point in fact, it was a bulky monster whose innards he'd stolen the sandwich from and it was none too pleased about it.

" **R-R-ROOAAARRRR!"**

Marco panicked a little when he nearly lost his footing as he ran. "Oh crap, the scissors!" Reaching into his pocket and pulling out the reality-warping scissors, he was already envisioning where he needed to go. Before he could even attempt to snip a hole, however, the behemoth caught up to him bucked at him like a bull, tossing him like a ragdoll to the side.

"Agghh!"

Everything went to hell in an instant. His body flailed wildly as he was absent from gravity for but a moment, before crashing in a tumble to the earth. The sounds of his items scattering about dimmed in comparison to the sharp noise of something breaking.

"Damn it!" the boy flinched, already feeling himself all over to run a quick diagnostic, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that what he'd broken was his cellphone. Despite the loss, his aches and bruises from the monster's charge, he counted himself fortunate; the sickle that had been affixed to his belt landed on the ground flat-first, allowing him to miraculously escape serious self-injury when he landed on it as well.

That was as far as his luck went, as he had to get up and dive out of harm's way when the monster stomped his location with a massive leg, puffing blasts of air in anger at its failure. **"ROOO-AAARRR!"**

Hurriedly getting back to his feet whilst entering a fighting stance with his sickle, Marco took stock of the situation. His scissors were the only way of fleeing the conflict but they were well out of his reach, lying at the edge of the cliff behind the monster. The sandwich was close by; a few steps to his right and it would be within arm's reach. Of course, the last time he was in a fix like this, he was with Star who had a magic-cure-all for her troubles, but Marco's priorities hadn't changed since then. His own life was obviously placed _over_ food. Right at the top of his list.

Then why the hell was he looking at the sandwich as if he wanted to run to get it first?

"Just cut your losses, Marco," the teen mumbled as the beast stared at him, obviously wondering what the lad was up to. It showed that it had some measure of intelligence and… recognition? Or was it only a dumb pride contest presented by a territorial creature, deciding who would back down first? It was probably the latter; the sandwich was created in the monsters bowels as a sort of stored fat when it had plenty to eat and metabolized when there wasn't enough food to last it through meager times. Sort of like an energy bar from excess nutrients, and it was _its_ prize to protect.

Blunt teeth… it was clearly a herbivore with limited means; it was far from a creature that would eat another, much less _kill_ the boy if he didn't press on for trouble. Marco didn't know that if he had ignored the sandwich, the behemoth would've allowed him to leave peacefully. But Marco _didn't_ when he dashed towards the victual, and the monster _didn't_ let him depart quietly.

With a loud growl, it rushed him again with the intent to crush the Diaz, but the boy dove with a specific angling to keep the sickle pointing away from himself, and to snatch the sandwich with his free hand as soon as he hit the ground. Finishing off with a perfect shoulder-roll, Marco sidestepped the monster's foreleg which would have pummeled him and felt his heart begin to race, reminiscent of his arduous trials in Hekapoo's dimension. Hard-earned instincts firing on all cylinders, his mouth contorted in a roar of his own.

"Graaagghh!" The sickle pointed outwards, he slashed the sickle into the meat of the monster just above the offending leg with the might of both hands. Not stopping there, he raked it through the monster's side as he ran past it, gore and blood spilling as the sickle dug deeper and deeper as he maximized his efforts. The bellowing sounds of the monster's pained cries deafened Marco, but he paid it no mind as he finally tore out the farming tool when he reached the monster's hindquarters. He'd debilitated the monster enough, he thought grimly, hurting it sufficiently to make it want to leave him alone.

Sure of his victory but still taking no chances, he hastened to his scissors whilst re-hooking the sickle to his belt via the cord. Hearing a thundering behind him, the injured-yet-undeterred monster had just about caught up to the Diaz when the boy reached the warp-tool and grabbed it but was forced to leap over the edge as the monster was nearly upon him.

Both boy and beast bellowed in fear as gravity began tugging them to the far below, losing their minds in panic. In horror that he would die, Marco shut his eyes in expectation of death, waiting for the ground to rush up to him.

" **Calm… Yourself… Use the scissors!"** The voice that repeated the same odd phrase over the course of the month once more lapsed into different speech, although the exclaimed advice nearly served to unsettle him more. At last, Marco gathered his senses and took note of everything. He _had_ **everything**. The sandwich was still in his possession, and the scissors were in his hands. He could still warp out of the situation, but the harsh reality was that natural physics would still kill him as the acquired velocity of his fall would follow him wherever he went.

"No… focus… where's the best place for the portal? A soft bed? Crap, no! The sea, maybe?" He could barely hear himself over the sound of the wind rushing past his ears.

He was about to become a stain; he'd been falling like a human-shaped rock for nearly too long.

"DAMN IT!" Marco screamed as he opened the scissors wide and slashed at reality below him, intently falling through the portal he made back-first. The monster wasn't quite that fortunate as its body had had too much force going over the cliff from the start; it fell _over_ and missed the boy **and** his portal entirely, crashing through the trees that peppered the ground. With its sturdy frame, it normally would have survived the impact. This wasn't the case, as its earlier partial disembowelment and meeting the ground head-first only killed its chances of surviving, and its life along with it.

…

"Damn it!"

A warp portal opened up vertically to the street, and a teen came flying out of it at high speed. His limp body lightly skimmed the snow-covered ground at the same level for all of five seconds before gravity seemingly remembered him, and started to tug him down once more. It was safer but no less harrowing as the boy finally coasted down nigh-gracefully into the snow and slid backward into the icy natural cushioning. Marco didn't know how long it took for his body, along with his shock, to come to a stop, as he welcomed the black of unconsciousness long before then.

* * *

 **Lengthy note warning:**

 **A little adventure? Okay. I wanted to make a bigger fight scene and to make a bigger cliffhanger, but I guessed that it would only bog the chapter down. Besides, I already had to split this chapter in half. I reckon I'll post it tomorrow, or the day after. It's the harder part, I tell you.**

 **-The tag in the description once suggested that Marco was 'Evil'. I'm not sure if anything can be so black and white. Some might say his capacity is that of an anti-hero or someone who is doing the right thing in the wrong way. In that same sense, you could say that he's doing the wrong thing for the right reason. Hence, I've changed the tag to 'Dark', simply because his label isn't finalized as yet. But make no mistake-… he's definitely not the same Marco whose shenanigans you once laughed at.**

 **-Timeline: I've actually followed the timeline loosely with canon, and kept the dates accurate. The fic starts immediately after the events of** _ **Monster Bash**_ **, as Marco had felt inadequate when helping Star.**

 **(Obviously, Tom had Marco beat in that department. Mina, while a beast, made it look as if a confrontation between her and Marco would have been similar to the Hulk having a dispute with a grasshopper.)**

 **Straightaway, he admits his feelings, and then we had a small 'Higgs' arc that lasted a month. Another week or two has passed and it's now** _ **Stump Day**_ **/Star's Birthday. After the next chapter, I'm ditching the canon timeline. Come retcon or Nefcy's plot-twists or high water, I hope this (AU?) fic will stand tall.**

 **Subnote: I get the feeling that I don't want to create a shipping straightaway and yet I'm leaving certain doors open all over the place. Am I messed up in the head or what?**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	4. Zeal

**Vestiges**

 **I'm not regurgitating canon. Nope.**

 **Also, the rating will soon change by the next update. (Or the one _after)_. I'm not going to turn Marco into Eminem II in every other sentence, but sometimes, saying the words 'crap' and 'damn' just won't cut it anymore in times of extreme adversity. Violence will be sure to spike too, from merely _implied_ to being _detailed_. Just a heads-up. I'm thinking about the story's future; I've been threatened to be reported to the admins before.**

 **4.**

Marco opened his eyes and saw the nighttime sky.

"Urrggghhh… my… back…!" Marco groaned as he tried to lean up. An audible crack rang out when his spine 'realigned' into place after he sat up, making him flinch. "Agghh… Wait a minute…" Seeing the semi-hidden form of the moon through the thick clouds in the sky, the teen hastily rose to his feet, trying to ignore his body's aches and inner chills whenever he moved; the weather wasn't quite as bad before, but Marco still had no idea how long since he'd lost consciousness. In all these things, however, his goal, (the sandwich), remained intact as the Diaz had clutched it to his chest and still continued to do so when he came to.

"Crap, I'm late! But…" He started looking around wildly for his teleportation tool. "… Where're the scissors?" Without even stopping to count his concurrent blessings, even that he was still alive after his ordeal, Marco quickly began to backtrack. Walking through the extensive trench in the snow he had dug with his own body, he searched with his eyes and hands to look for his scissors and finally found them lying not too far from where he'd exited the portal. Quickly closing it with the warp-tool, he then used them to warp home via a new magic threshold, hoping that he wasn't too tardy.

...

"Haappyyy Biiirrthdaaayyy!"

The chorus of voices was loud in the reception room, nearly forcing Janna to cover her ears on reflex. It ceased as quickly as its abrupt start, however, giving the punk teen a feeling reminiscent of New Year's parties when the highlight was, of course, to bring in the new year. Wasn't that why they kept up a vigil **all** night until now? Picking up her stump again, she was about to take another draught when it suddenly struck her as to the origins of the viscous liquid inside.

"Ahh, geez. This is tree- _sap_ , ain't it? Cripes." She opened a nearby window and dashed the contents outside. "Why didn't I **realize** it before?" she mumbled to herself as she re-closed the window. "I've been drinking that crap for most of today!" She quietly exited the room in search of a source of tea (or coffee, the difference mattered little at this point), only to bump into the guy from whom she garnered pleasure by teasing. "Hmm? Who are… _Marco_? Is that… you?"

She could hardly recognize him. The lights in the hallways beyond were too dim to make out finer details, but as he stepped past her into the well-lit reception area, she grasped that she _still_ could not distinguish him as the person she'd known for most of her life. As he purposefully walked towards Star who stood at the center of the room, he walked past quite a few of the party guests and they all saw what Janna had noticed: tears and wears in his clothes, a dim Ziploc bag in one hand and his dimensional scissors in the other. Last but not least, a corn-sickle on his belt that had been worn down nearly to the dullness of a butter-knife, yet remained heavily bloodstained. In as much, there was also contact-blood from the sickle on his muddied jeans, showing that whosever's or _whatever's_ blood he'd shed, there had been a copious amount of it. That is if it wasn't **his**.

Marco paid no mind to the stares he received. Frankly, he was too much in pain, shock, and resentment to care. On silent tongues, they all asked themselves about what he was up to and Star was no different when she glanced aside to see the Diaz for the first time all day.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… _Marco_? Wha' happened to-" the princess looked him over from head to foot, and act that didn't miss his perception. Looking down at himself, it was as if he'd finally realized that he was an utter mess. "You look like you were just in a brawl or something… and _lost_." That was as far as she was willing to remark and she wasn't about to even bring up what she thought of the sickle.

A really depressing factor on what should have been a joyous occasion. Was it _actually_ blood? She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but it was rather feeble. Corns did _not_ bleed.

Marco looked down at himself, feeling his cheeks heat a little in embarrassment at his social faux pas. "Sorry about the clothes. I was in a scrap but I wanted to come here as soon as possible. Before your birthday party ended?"

Pony Head floated over Star's shoulder and looked down at the Diaz, clicking her tongue in displeasure. "Your disgraceful fashion aside, you're not late for anything, Earth Turd. We just started."

"You started a birthday party late at night?"

"Nope!" the floating head retorted with a smirk. "It's super early… in the _morning~_!" The last came out in a singsong, making the Diaz wondered why she sounded so pleased with herself. But if it was now early morning, then…

Marco glanced at the clock high on the wall behind Star, seeing that it had a readout of a quarter past midnight. Groaning, the boy cursed to himself; Star heard something about 'blacking out' 'dimensional time differences' and tried to make sense of what it could have meant. Was it like the time he'd been in Hekapoo's dimension?

Star's eyes fell to his white-knuckle-gripped dimensional scissors. "So you're just coming in from another dimension? Then it's cool, right? You're early and everything."

"Why are you celebrating your birthday **now**?Your birthday's on Stump Day!" Marco argued. "That's why I went out this morning to try and get this as fresh as possible! I just didn't know that I'd be this late!"

"It's okay, Marco!" Tom called with a grin from where he stood before walking over with a swagger in his gait. "I planned the party for the day _after_ Stump Day. Star doesn't celebrate it on her so-called _important_ holiday."

Star would've called him out on the sanctity of Stump Day, but chose to let it be. The holiday wouldn't matter for another year, not to mention that something much more important was presented to her. In that same note, she gestured to the item in the boy's hand. "Oooh… So you got me a gift? What is it?"

Marco remembered himself. It was unfortunate that he pushed himself so hard for something that had a longer deadline than previously, although there was a glimmer at the end. His efforts had been fruitful and notwithstanding his horrible state of attire, he had something to show to his best friend. "Remember the sandwich that you nearly got us killed over? Since you were raving about how good it would taste, I thought that I'd get one for you." He was about to hand over the victual but was barred by Tom's hand, who then further proceeded to half-step into the way.

"A sandwich, Marco? Really?" Tom asked in disbelief before pointing to the table to the side, laden with food of all kinds. "I've got all of Star's favorite foods here. A sandwich isn't gonna cut it when it comes to her palate."

"It's hers to decide if she wants it or not, _Tom_."

"Well, _**I**_ _**want**_ what's best for her. She only has one birthday a year, Marco. You didn't even bother to wrap it something to make it look more presentable-"

"Cut me some slack, I was just trying to make it here before her birthday ended. I just came straight out of a fight with the monster that made this thing _and_ defied the laws of gravity just to **get** here! I wouldn't have known that she celebrated it on the day after. Then again, it's not like _anyone_ gave me an invitation to come the day after." Marco retorted bitingly, throwing out his accusation freely. He'd gone through enough crap to get the fare and wasn't about to be blocked by the princess's boyfriend. He was about to retry giving Star the food, but was interrupted again-… this time, it was the Butterfly when she spoke her piece.

"Actually, Marco, he's kind of right. I don't want it."

"What?" If everyone had been only pretending to listen in, now they had no qualms in making it obvious.

"Burn!" Pony Head screeched.

"Star?" Marco was astonished about her stance in the situation; he had been counting on her to defend him or to at least accept the sandwich out of courtesy. "I was only-"

"It's not about what Tom said, Marco. I know how hard it probably was just to get and I'm grateful that you went so far to do it. But I already knew how the sandwiches taste and the reason why I was trying to get one back then with you was that you could get to experience it for yourself."

The Diaz held out the sandwich weakly. "So you're saying that you don't want it because _I've_ never had one?" Star nodded her head, but all Marco saw was the smug look on Tom's face; it was the exact expression that Marco wanted to smash with a **brick**. "You don't want the sandwich?" Marco insisted lamely, "I got this for **you**! If it's about the bag and the presentation and everything, it's fresh, I swear-"

"Marco. It would make _me_ happy to see the sandwich make _you_ happy."

"It would make _me_ happy," Marco parroted, "to see you accept the gift. But if it's as you say, then fine." No later than it'd been said had Janna snatched the sandwich from his hand.

"It would make _me_ happy," the girl mocked, "to find out what's the big deal about this sandwich." Opening the bag to take a bite of the thickly layered sandwich, she couldn't stop herself from making a nearly-obscene moan about 'how good it was'. Marco fumed to himself when he saw Janna virtually demolish the fruits of his labor with sacrilege and questioned himself if she was in his life purely to make him miserable.

"Couldn't you have just _bought_ something like everyone else?" Pony Head asked. "Bringing a sandwich was kinda _cheesy,_ Marco." She began to chuckle at her own joke but Marco shook his head.

"I put some _real_ thought into this, Pony Head. Star can afford or make nearly _anything_ she wants."

"You're a closet party-pooper, aren't you Marco?" Tom insinuated snidely. Marco ignored the Lucitor in favor of the magical princess, stepping past him to get closer to her.

"Star, I'm your best friend… and I'm also your squire. I can't afford to buy or make things like you and what's more, a squire is basically a frontman for his superior. It means that you also have my life at your disposal."

Jaws fell all around but it was only in that vein did everyone's similarity ended. More than just a few thought it was over the top while the others considered it to be an elaborated romantic declaration. Marco didn't care as he fell to one knee, akin to the stance of being called to service or being knighted. "Dimensional scissors have an exorbitant cost and production time, so much so that your family can only have one. They can only be made by Hekapoo, so you can't transmutate them. Although I lost the original pair of dimensional scissors that Pony Head gave you, they weren't hers to give you in the first place. I spend **sixteen** **years** _earning_ these, and they're all I have that you don't already own." He held up the scissors royally in both hands to the princess, who was flabbergasted beyond speech. "They're yours."

No one had dared or even been able to interrupt the teen's monologue and it took a few minutes of dead silence for the Star, the first, to react.

"Marco, I'm… sorry." She backpedaled away from him while holding up both of her arms. "I can't take your scissors. If they're all you have, I don't want to leave you with nothing! Coming back out of Hekapoo's dimension showed me how much you got messed up so if anything, you earned them at least _twice_. Not to mention-" She lapsed into her potent Butterfly state, complete with six arms and wings with golden garb. "I can make my own portals!" She created one just to prove a point, flew through it and re-emerged from another portal across the room. "See?"

Marco did _not_ see. His head was still down to look at the ground, but he could well imagine the princess portaling about the room. It was true; he recalled when she used to sleep-portal at night, not to mention willingly teleport home when he contacted her through her wand. How could he have been so stupid? Of course… he still had _nothing_ to offer. He felt the embarrassment of his blunder starting to tempt him to warp out of the room with the scissors he still had… but chose not to. Besides the scissors, at least, his dignity was all he had left.

What remained of it, that is.

Shaking his head, he got back on his feet slowly. "Okay Star. Thanks, I guess. For letting me keep them."

Pony Head gathered her bearings and snorted in disbelief. "Oh c'mon, B-fly! Can't you just take the scissors as a gift and then give it to me? I'm tired of having to borrow my Old Man's scissors." Before Star could even reply to the floating head, the doors at the far end of the room slammed shut.

Marco was gone.

…

"Yo, Marco?" Kelly called, knocking at the door repeatedly, each rap becoming quicker than the last. "You in there?"

The door opened to reveal the Diaz; he was dressed only in his nightwear, his hair was sticking every which way and his eyes were bloodshot. "Yeah. I'm in here. What is it, Kelly?"

"Oh... you were sleeping?"

"…" Marco looked down at the girl with the light green body-hair, trying to decide whether she was trying to ask the obvious to try settling him into a conversation or because she completely missed all the hints. "Yeah. I _was_."

She giggled nervously, berating herself in the privacy of her own mind. "Sorry about that. I was just dropping by to give you some cake since you left the party. It just ended, and I managed to save you a piece before they ate it all."

"Hmm?" The boy's eyes fell to the plate she held atop which rested a thick slice of cake. In actuality, he didn't want it but _unlike Star_ , he could accept a gift to be polite. "Cake? Thanks." He took the cake from her and was about to bid her goodnight, but she remained there, leading him to believe that she had an ulterior motive for seeing him. "If that's all…"

"No! No-no-no." Kelly answered hastily. "I also came to check up on you. You came in kinda _torn-up_ , you know?"

"I'm not bleeding anywhere, Kelly."

"What about the inside-?"

"I'm not bleeding internally, either," Marco grumbled good-naturedly. He appreciated that she was concerned for him and took a moment to speculate if no one else was. "Only a little battered and bruised, but I'll sleep it off. I'll be fine."

"You sure? I know what those sandwich monsters are like. If you really did come back with all your bones unbroken, you've gotta be made out of _strong_ stuff!" Kelly took a gander at his form and noticed that he wasn't as pudgy as he was the first time she ever met him, and his muscles were coming in. It was obvious, even by silhouette. Playfully fist-bumping his shoulder, she failed to observe him wince in pain in the semi-darkness; she'd hit one of his sorer spots unintentionally. "And what was that all about 'defying gravity'?"

"I jumped off a cliff and portaled out at the last minute sideways into the street. If you go into town tomorrow you should see a long trench I dug out with my _back_ ," he deadpanned.

"All of that for a _sandwich_?"

"All of that for a sandwich she **didn't** want," Marco reminded. Sighing deeply, he let the girl know that it was okay; the last thing he wanted at the moment was someone's pity.

"Well, alright Marco." Kelly began walking away along the corridor, but not before waving goodbye. "Makes me wonder how you'll one-up yourself next year."

"I've given up. I'll just get her a singing-card." Marco had the pleasure of hearing Kelly's laughter wafting back to him in reception to his off-hand comment. With that, Marco shut the door with finality and returned to bed, leaving the cake on his bedside table.

"I hope Star never finds out about _Christmas_ ," Marco mumbled before falling back asleep.

* * *

With a sudden gasp, Marco was startled awake again. However, instead of seeing the poster stuck to his ceiling, he saw _nothing._ In fact, he couldn't even see his own hands in front of his face.

His heart began to race, already hastening out of proportions as the boy started going mad with fright and hyperventilation. "Am I blind? _**Dead**_?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, more than half-believing both theories. There was no answer save for the sound of his own voice fading; the inky black he was in appeared to be not only devoid of light but also an engross. Sound just seemed to _fall_ into it…! Was he in some infinite realm of darkness? He teetered on the edge of insanity and scarcely before he fell over, a new light began to shine before him, far away. The darkness, like a living thing, _reacted_ to the (green?) light that seemingly blazed a path through its obscurity.

" _ **You're not blind, nor dead**_ _."_

"Who… m… who said that?" Marco asked weakly, wondering as to who was addressing him before he realized that its tone bore a similitude to the voice that spoke from the reaches of his mind. " _Voice_? Is that you?" Without even stopping to think, Marco got off of his behind and started to run towards the light. He failed, however, as he never seemed to get any closer. "Oh, geez!" Marco huffed after a running for a nearly a minute. His previous respiratory afflictions caught with him after his short toil and he started to lose conviction that he could reach the light. "This is gonna take forever! Wait…" Feeling his pockets for the scissors he usually carried with him, he was horrified when he realized that he was bereft of them. All he had were the clothes on his back! He could already feel his blood pressure spike once more, but the voice spoke again before he gave himself a heart attack.

" _ **You need only to step forward."**_

"Hmm?" Marco asked in confusion. "Step forward?" He looked down at his feet and could hardly see a thing below. It was as if he was walking **on** darkness and everywhere else was a _deeper_ shade of it. Nonetheless, he took a step forward, hoping for a teleportation or miracle of some sort to get him where he wanted to go.

Nothing happened. Everything was still the same.

He repeated the act. It was for naught.

" _ **Your own mind prevents your very journey. Calm yourself…"**_

Marco blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

" _ **Calm yourself**_ **."** The voice repeated itself far more severely than its initial. Thoroughly intimidated, Marco clenched his eyes shut in an effort to still himself. It took him a few minutes and for the voice to hint to him that he needed to be even more serene. After what felt to have been a half-hour and Marco felt as if he would fall asleep while standing, the voice spoke again. **"Step… forward."**

His eyes still shut, Marco fulfilled the obligation and took a small step forward. It wasn't until he was told to open his eyes did he come to see that he was standing before a small wooden table. Floating in midair on the other side was a small blue man in yellow garb. In fact, Marco had only one cognition.

" _Glossaryck_?"

The being shook his head in disgust, an act that drew Marco's attention to the green crystal that was affixed to its forehead. _**"No, Marco Diaz. You mistake me for my foolish brother. My name is Appendaxuz.**_ _"_

Marco's eyebrow nearly lifted past his follicle hairline. "'Appendaxuz'? Seriously? What, you got another brother somewhere named after the Table of Contents? Maybe another one for the 'Bibliography' too?" His remark, while rude, was only spoken in unbelieving jest. He had expected no answer, yet he did.

" _ **Unfortunately, all but Glossaryck and I are all deceased. By now, in a sense, Glossaryck already is. I've seen his antics as of late. It's shameful."**_ Appendaxuz's voice did not carry much in the of embarrassment, though Marco could detect hints of resentment. _**"Reduced to even less than that of a dog…"**_

Marco was about to consider this but decided not to. "You know what? Never mind. How do I get outta here?" Looking around wherever Appendaxuz's light shone, Marco searched for a way out. "I've got places to be. _Anywhere else_ , as a matter of fact."

" _ **Indeed,"**_ the little blue man agreed. It was strange, Marco noted, that his voice commanded such an awing presence; it was unlike Glossaryck's eccentric behavior. _**"In all honesty, Marco Diaz,"**_ Appendaxuz said while intercrossing his fingers, _**"you're an idiotic pawn. It took you far longer than any other to learn to meditate as a means to calm yourself, as simple as it may be."**_

"Am I only here for you to insult me?" Marco complained. "'Cause I've got better things to do than getting dissed by an overbearing tiny old man or whatever you are. _Like sleeping._ "

" _ **And like all the others,"**_ Appendaxuz continued regardless of the boy's quip, _**"you fail to even comprehend the dregs of my message that your mind allows to slip through."**_

Marco took a step backward from the man in sudden apprehension. "Whoa, whoa. My mind? Are we in my head right now?" The apparition ignored his question; it had only a short time to properly inform the boy while his mind was still in a perfect state to allow perfect communication; the grey area just after a normal REM cycle and before being officially comatose. It was a rare opportunity, one he may very well not receive again.

" _ **Yet, unlike everyone else, you've arrived here personally. A remarkable potential…"**_ Appendaxuz tapped his crystal in thought. _**"You're not in the same class to be calculated like the others… rather, you're a deviant. With room, a googol amount, for improvement. Perhaps even more."**_

"You keep telling me to destroy the 'Wellspring'!" Marco yelled. "What's up with that, huh?!"

" _ **Simply put..."**_ Appendaxuz began, _**"It's the siphon that is the so-called 'source' of all magic. Whereas everyone believes that they have the ability to produce magic, utilize it from their tools or simply have a capacity for using it in the same manner as a battery powering a toy…"**_ The statement was rather pointed, and Marco immediately began to think of the Butterfly family, not to mention their wand in particular. _**"The reality is… they don't. And like any other siphon, it can stopped-up or demolished. This one NEEDS to be**_ **.** _ **"**_

Marco shook his head, his automatic answer already on his lips. "Destroy the source of magic? Why the hell would I want to do that?! I love portaling, going on adventures and-…" There was no hesitation. Only comprehension. "I'm _not_ listening to this. You're DAFT!"

" _ **Should you will it, certain items will continue to function through a new implementation, namely your scissors that you appear to be fond of. At the very least, you can seal off the Wellspring from being used for folly and mere leisure."**_ The apparition sounded rather stern about this topic as if what Marco had insisted had angered him. " _ **Nowadays, magic is used frivolously. The societal classes are determined by who can misuse it in the largest amounts. Marco Diaz… how was your life before Star Butterfly entered it unannounced? Did you not find it fruitful? You had a good future to look forward to, a goal of becoming a Doctor because you enjoyed helping people… that, and being rather retentive about having order and cleanliness."**_ The being played on all of Marco's strings when making his appeal, not caring if he was manipulating the boy's old feelings or not.

"I'm not retentive. And I'm not about to destroy a source _or any_ sources of magic!"

" _ **Having second thoughts, are you? You're going to be a squire, dependent on your 'friend' for the rest of your life? You of all people should understand as even now, you've been reduced to a groveling idiot, humiliated by nearly everyone. Are they still worth the bonds you try to keep, much less your time? In all frankness, in this society that has abused magic, it has seen far more problems than solutions. Whenever magic makes a step in advancement, it is forced to make two steps backward shortly after. Furthermore… are you of the belief that magic is a pure foundation? The very Wellspring is**_ _ **a conduit that extracts the blood flowing from the tomb of my dead brothers**_ **.** _ **They cast off their immortality as a means of tying all the dimensions and anchoring them together, lest they fall away into the destruction of the Aether. The very siphon itself is a product of Glossaryck's design."**_

" _WHAT?!_ "

" _ **It is,"**_ Appendaxuz casually reaffirmed. He waved his hands over the table and a chess-board appeared, laden with pieces. At second glance, Marco realized that he _himself_ was one of the pieces; in fact, he was in the exact center of the board where the center lines intersected, whereas all the other pieces were standing in squares. A figure likeness of himself was presented and in the same stratum, Marco looked at all the pieces scattered about in different squares. He could identify everyone on it, either from his own relationships or through Star: the princess and her family, Pony Head, Janna, his own parents, even Jackie and Higgs. Tom and Eclipsa were also there, not to mention the members of the Magic High Commission, though a goat-looking figure (Marco guessed that he was the 'Lekmet' that Rhombulus once told him about) lied on its side, as well as one of Toffee. All were situated in seemingly random locations across the board as if a game of chess had already begun and was undergoing, although there was no way of determining sides by color as all the pieces were facing Marco from the side. Even Star herself stood on a dark square while Tom stood on a white one, of all things. It might have been prejudice because Star used magic excessively, but Marco was unsure. Labels mattered little.

" _ **It is unclear at this point who will support you."**_ The little blue man picked up the figure of Higgs to regard it closely before placing it down again, then proceeded to follow through with all the pieces one by one as he continued his address. _ **"Yea, in all these things, they may even be your enemies, especially the ones who continue to use magic… the princess herself…"**_ He picked up the figure and showed it to Marco. It had a large smile on its face, reminding Marco of simpler times, although that spot of reminiscing ended all too soon. _**"…Star… may be adverse to the charge you are given. Blood may have to be spilled."**_

"I'm not going to kill my friend!"

" _ **Your friend now could be your enemy later."**_

"Or _still_ remain a friend!" Marco retorted angrily.

Appendaxuz shook his head, deciding that the boy might be susceptible to an empathetic reasoning. _**"Your naivety is appalling. Regardless, the use of magic has to be abolished. That is NOT moot. Magic, believe it or not, is a perishable resource. If and when it does, the dimensions go with it."**_

Marco looked down at the chess board, contemplating all of the pieces in turn. He could very well imagine that everything had a price, even magic. _Everything_ was essentially give and take, not too unlike hierarchy themselves who seemed to purely take what they wanted and were willing to give the dregs to those below them. He still wanted to believe that there were mostly good qualities in the family along with those they had ties with. Perhaps he could still appeal to their better natures; after all, they were the 'good' people, weren't they? "I'm the only one who can hear you, huh? Well, I could be your spokesman. What if I told them what you just told me? Tell them to quit using magic, or at least to stop abusing it every other minute?"

Appendaxuz wasn't convinced. _**"There is a reason why you rest on the lines."**_ He stated as he pointed at Marco's piece. _ **"You play like a pawn, yet you try to advance in every direction at once whilst being inside your own limits, not unlike a King. Against a Queen, much less a Rook, Bishop or Knight, you'll be subjugated and humbled to the dust. It sets you apart from all else. Furthermore, you have doubt. Your mind lacks focus. Your spirit is injured. Your heart has not healed. Your body is feeble. Your soul lacks drive and focus. Do you really believe that anything can be achieved without action? You are WEAK."**_

Marco did not make an answer. What could he say? The apparition was right in his diagnosis, and his denouncement rang true. He recalled all of his troubles that he'd gone through, all of the scars both inside and out, his lack of a purpose. He already felt himself slipping and yet continued to willing give himself over to Appendaxuz's discourse. Was there was an alleviation, a _cure,_ for his situation?

" _ **I have fallen from grace. I've watched my brothers die, and my own life is little more than an illusion, floating on the wind like the ashes of the book I was imprisoned in. Glossaryck was adverse to my charge, as much as Star Butterfly may be to yours. The brother of my own blood had me sacked when I sought to bring to a halt the usage of magic. I was jailed inside the folio and it was only by chance of you viewing it that I was able to bond with your mind… yet, my own time is short."**_

" _ **Consider a sword… It is sharp… It is strong… It is precise… It severs... It rends asunder… You are weak, Marco Diaz. Alpha maximizes the corporeal mold. Beta furthers the psyche. Theta brings unification. Delta warrants safety. Gamma powers the core and provides conviction. This is what comprises all beings. Magic is merely an additive in the equation. Your dimension… all dimensions… could and WOULD do well without it. Marco Diaz…"**_ Appendaxuz took up the chess piece that looked like himself and knocked it over before picking up the one that looked like Marco. _**"You have been found lacking. Convey yourself to the forge and become like new."**_ Without further ado, he tossed the chess piece over to Marco, who caught it awkwardly. The likeness of Marco had green crescents emblazoned on its cheeks, with a nearly indiscernible pattern in them. Little did he know that his own cheeks were beginning to radiate the same crescents before a green light overtook him.

Soon, he disappeared in a burst of green radiance from before Appendaxuz, who wore a grim expression. He hadn't been entirely truthful to the boy… in fact, far from it. Nonetheless, in the grand scheme of things, the boy whose mind he resided in had spectacular drive when he believed that he was in the 'right'. His petty influence in the boy's mental state could only achieve so much, and it was becoming crucial that the boy heard all that he 'needed' to hear personally and would set about accomplishing it. Marco _would_ be able to accomplish his 'mission'-… he'd given the teen some faculty and more than enough incentive to carry out his crusade; sound judgment and a dire warning, a form of someone he was familiar with... The boy was unlike his other pawns in the past but Marco was especially _interesting._

" _ **That's right…"**_ Appendaxuz muttered to himself as his appearance began to change into something far more menacing and formless, like the very shadows around him. _**"Forward, Marco Diaz, forward!"**_ Out of the amorphous creature, the green crystal with its luminescent glow shed light onto the chess board, revealing all of the lifeless pieces that all stood across its face.

" _ **I wonder…? Which of them will topple first?"**_ Appendaxuz mused with a serrated grin, a very harbinger that this entire affair was about to enter its season.

* * *

 **-Hammered at this for days, and I can't get the kinks out; the meeting had to happen sooner or later, am I right? I still hope you liked it. It was still speaking about two different topics; I should've chopped it into two again, I reckon, but I decided that I should let it be. It's about time I rotated fics for a bit so I decided to just post the bulk.**

 **-Appendaxuz. Yep. The name of the entity could have been more… imaginative? Or was the discussion not convincing enough? Something just ain't right and I can't tell. Maybe it's all in my head. Regardless, both 'Monster Arm' and 'Page Turner' are episodes from two entirely different seasons. I strongly believe that the spell 'Releaseo Demonius Infestica' is just a fancy way of saying to 'releasing the infesting demon', although it wasn't an entity, but rather a normal person's bad vices. It only spoke and did all the things Marco desired. Impressing people, pummeling… what's that brat's name? Jeremy? Unimportant.**

 **The 'possession' at the end of the other episode though… that just raises a hell of a lot more questions. And as a side-note... no, I'm not going to create an OP Marco. He'll have to become reasonably stronger, though, if he's going against practitioners of magic.**

 **-The Kelly scene was actually unnecessary. I figured that I needed a scene to show that Marco was sleeping, not to mention leave the door open for the shipping to squeeze through. I'm starting to incline to either her, Higgs or Hekapoo; I've got some ideas for** _ **her**_ **, even though it's a bit of a stretch. Starco** _ **could**_ **happen too, but it'd probably just end up being one-sided. I bet you already know** _ **which**_ **side.**

 **Until next time, people.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	5. Branded

**Vestiges**

 **I'm back. I have my coffee to burn the midnight candle, I have my Advil (Carpal Tunnel is NO fun), and I have my sanity. Mostly.**

 **5.**

Star hung her head. "Maybe I should've taken his gift. Even when he listened to me and decided to keep it after all, he didn't even get to try the sandwich."

"Well, it's kinda his loss, Star," Tom tried to console as he rested his hand on her shoulder. "Besides, you heard him. He accepted the fact that you were giving him the sandwich because you wanted **him** to be happy. It's kinda his own fault for not keeping a good grip on it." Smiling affably, the Lucitor started to escort her to the dining room where her mother and father were having breakfast. "If it's not too much trouble, I can just get one of those sandwiches and you can give it to him. He'll be sure to take it from you, and everything will be settled."

"I dunno…" Star bit on a knuckle in a small degree of trepidation. "It'd be nice, but Marco's one of those people who's all about 'principle', like my own mom. I should just get the sandwich for him by myself, just like how he did it for me."

"Do you even hear yourself? It was your birthday, and the sandwich was going to be yours," Tom argued. "You did what you wanted with it, and you did the nicest thing anyone could do with a gift. You gave it away."

Star paused to think about this a little. "Now that I think about it, it actually sounds kinda rude. If I gave Marco a gift, I guess I'd be embarrassed if he just gave it back to me. I doubt he'd give it back, but…" the princess hesitated, trying to consider Marco's recent change in character. "Then again, maybe he **would've** given it back. He's starting to change… or I don't know him that well anymore. We don't even hang out as much as we used to. And then there's that voice 'phase' he went through a few weeks ago. And he keeps disappearing all the time-"

"Uh-huh," Tom rolled all three of his eyes in contempt, "what a great squire, am I right?" Star came to a complete stop in the hallway, also making her companion come to a halt as well.

"Tom… you've changed too."

The demon spawn did a double-take. "Excuse me?"

"Ever since I told you what Marco said to me in the bathroom, you've been acting kinda possessive of me, just like when we first dated. Even last night, you kept putting down Marco's attempts to give me the sandwich. You told me yourself that you'd try to improve yourself and you wouldn't be like this anymore-"

"First off, I was talking about 'rage'." Tom corrected. "Second, can you blame me? I mean, Marco and I are cool now, and then he suddenly starts 'admitting' his feelings to you. I wasn't being possessive. I was just…"

"Being insecure," Star finished quietly. "Tom, you don't need to worry about me. We're together now. I just want to be able to hang out with _both_ of my best boys and see them get along." Tom was about to protest but upon seeing her too-cute pout, faltered in his reply.

"I… hmph… Fine. Maybe I'll even apologize for last night. But I'm **not** going to drag him along with us when we're together, though, 'cause I saw how he stared at us on the underworld beach; he probably felt like an awkward third wheel or something. Not to mention, it's almost like he was making me feel guilty or something." Sighing deeply whilst making an allowance for possible pitfalls, Tom made his decision. "What if you just hung out with him alone for the day if this is that important to you? I'll just take the time to catch up on some things at home. You two do whatever it is you do and then you can smooth things over?"

Her immediate response was to press her lips against his cheek in glee before lapsing into her potent Butterfly-state. "Yeah! That gives me an idea! Thanks, Tom. You're the best!"

"Don't you forget it!" he beamed as he watched her create a portal and warped through. As soon as she was gone, however, his flash-in-the-pan smile fell into a deep frown. All too fresh in his mind was the night he'd been cheated out his dance with Star at the Blood Moon Ball; such a phenomenon carried an appalling amount of weight and he was fortunate that his girlfriend didn't have it in concern. She wasn't much of a stickler for 'destiny' and the like, but _he_ did. Although Star was officially his girlfriend (both emotionally and in political ties), he still found a rival in Marco and he couldn't help himself from feeling even the tiniest bit of _anxiety_ when he and Star were together.

From the sound of his admission, from Star's testimony at least, Marco sounded like he was happy for them both, as in the way a good loser would take his shortfall in stride. Furthermore, he appeared as if he was moving on. Perhaps, Tom believed, he was over-thinking things. If Marco really was disappearing every now and again, something new was occupying his time nowadays, be it another person he now shared romanticism with, or a pastime of the sort.

"Yeah… Marco's over Star," Tom muttered. "And he's happy for us… that's what he said, right? I've probably nothing to worry about…"

He started off again, walking towards the dining room. Only now, he was companionless and his mood neglected to rise. Yet still, in all these things, Tom couldn't help but ponder whether he and Star would truly be together in every degree.

If only Marco had never returned to Mewni…

* * *

"Agh!" Without delay, blood began to well up from the slit in her index finger. It wasn't deep to hurt her for very long, but what annoyed (and was started to pain her) was the fact that it the third cut she'd incurred in the past hour. Sticking the hurt digit in her mouth to suck on it, there was the distinct taste of iron in her mouth, making her grimace. Her petty injuries weren't the problem. The real issue was that she'd gotten the cuts because of her mental agitations.

With a grunt of exasperation, Higgs tossed the grindstone and the sword she was sharpening aside into the corner carelessly, never-minding where they fell. "Pathetic!" she yelled to herself, allowing for the small room to echo its agreement with her. It was supposed to be easy-… stop by on Stump Day, offer her apology and a small token of contrition to show that she wished to repair whatever bonds they'd had. Ever since she noticed that the holiday was approaching on the calendar, she'd gotten it in her head that the camaraderie that usually accompanied it would be perfect to make her admission of guilt.

In the week leading up to the holiday, whenever she'd had time, Higgs rummaged through storage areas, sifted through dank spaces and dark rooms and came upon what she'd thought would be an ideal offering to follow the repentance-… a sword, although an ordinary one. Improving her own pacing, she then _made_ the time to clean the hunting sword she'd found in a forgotten chest, sharpened it to razor-quality and formatted a cast-off scabbard for it. Even hearing about the hubbub he'd caused when pressuring the knights for a weapon yesterday morning, she was sure that her apology would work, especially given the fact that he was yearning for something she could offer.

Unexpectedly, the easy part was readying both the sword and herself to make the admission. The hard part was actually getting a hold of Marco to express it in the first place.

The opportunity that Stump Day provided had come and gone; no longer could she use the topic to soften whatever grudges he might've been harboring against her. The holiday that was usually centric on the settling of past afflictions and friendship was ideal for what she had in mind, but the opportunity had fled. Here she was, stewing in her own distractions and uncertainty. It was costing her, both in focus and bodily health. It was then that she realized that she had a choice: continue to sit and try to forget about it, perhaps even accidentally slit an important vein the next time she lost concentration, or get up and undertake what she'd intended from the start.

A smile, albeit a small one, crept on her face when she made her decision by picking up the hunting sword from off of a nearby table. It wasn't a choice, but rather a reflexive action. Of course she felt the need to apologize. She wasn't an idealistic person with stars in her eyes and neither was Marco; that much was certain. Notwithstanding, she still had a conscience. Even if Marco didn't accept her apology, (done mostly to ease said conscience), she would acknowledge it and move on. They'd simply go their separate ways.

Despite this… if Higgs had to be honest with herself… she'd much prefer the alternative.

…

"You've been asking all around you say? Well, it is no wonder. Only a few would know where his room is, and I am a part of that small number, as I personally deliver everyone's laundry. Why did you not come to me first?"

"It didn't occur to me at first," Higgs admitted, "and I wasn't exactly bumping into you to just ask you. You're kinda… out of the way. Know what I mean?"

"I do. But as it is that you've come all the way here, it means that you're more than willing to expend the effort to find Marco," the knight observed, looking over the squire as if trying to gauge her. "May I ask why, _Higgs_?"

The very way he said her name told the squire that he _knew_. "I… I just wanted…" Feeling a wash of shame wash over, she dropped her head. "I just wanted a _break_ …"

"From what I could tell from Lady Whosit's bantering with Sir Stabby when they were in my company last night for the Stump Day festivities, you did not get it…?" Sir Lavabo, if nothing else, was extremely passive-aggressive when he wanted to be. He drew out her answers by creating awkward blanks in his monologue, unnerving her to the point that she unconsciously wanted to spill all that she needed to say.

"It's not about that anymore. I just want to _apologize_ to him! I should've never betted on his life as if it wasn't even worth two-bits! Will you tell me where to find him, or won't you…?!"

Sir Lavabo hemmed and hawed at her response, trying to decide if he should inform her of Marco's whereabouts or not. She seemed repentant; it could've been an elaborate act, but it'd be far from the girl's character to even behave like this only to accomplish something else. "I see. If that is the case, I shall tell you. His bedroom is in the Hall of Portraits."

"What?" Higgs eyebrow nearly lifted off of her face in surprise. "The Hall of Portraits? There aren't any rooms on that wing, only corridors! Does he sleep in the hall itself, in the open? Or is the whole Hall now his bedroom-?"

"No, he does not. He informed me that the princess made a room for him there; should be easy to find since his room is the only one there, no? If that'll be all, you should be on your way." With that said, closed his door, essentially signifying that their disquisition had come to an end. She took it in stride; straightaway, she started to go back up the stairs to ascend from the basement. Without even realizing it, her pace had quickened, becoming faster until it was above brisk.

It was absentminded, almost as if she wanted to speed up without even urging herself. In fact, almost arriving at the Hall, she finally took notice and wondered if she was unconsciously afraid that she'd miss finding Marco if he had to depart for his own responsibilities. She was nearly jogging at this point and willed herself to slow down. Yes… more mature, more reserved. Normalcy.

Finally entering the Hall of Portraits, she began to wander the corridor in search of any sort of room leading from it. She didn't have to seek for long, as she soon found a seemingly normal door to the left side of the main corridor. Seeing it there only raised her skepticism. It wasn't as if the door was leading away to the innermost side of the castle. Rather, it was in the wall to the _outside_ , far above ground level. In other words, (using simple logic) the door was probably a fake-door that went nowhere. To be fair, however, the squire tried the knob, only to find it locked.

"This has to be a joke," she mumbled before starting to knock on the door. "Marco? You out there…?! Errm… I mean _in there_? Marco?" Knocking in between her calls, she kept at it for a minute before she resigned to herself that he wasn't in the room, although she couldn't help but think that the door itself was a farce. Deciding to just check to verify if the room actually existed, she peeked through the keyhole. "Huh. There **is** a room in there. How does _that_ work?"

From her poor vantage angle, she couldn't see very well around the room; she couldn't confirm if Marco was actually in the room or not. However, just before she could pull away, a dark green light began to flash in the room, before becoming brighter, almost to the point where she needed to squint.

"What the hell?"

Hardly a second later, the green luminescence dimmed away, and a long scream followed in its wake.

" _AAGG_ **GHH** _ **HHH**_!"

 _Marco?!_

More screams only answered her unvoiced realization and continued to peal out to her. They served to increase her anxiety, driving her insane with worry. "Marco?!" She stood straighter and started to pound at the door. "What's going on in there?!"

" _ **Convey myself to the FORGE**_!" Marco screamed inside the room. " _ **Become like NEW**_!"

"Marco?! MARCO?! **MARCO**?!" Each time, her yells went unanswered, making the squire curse to herself. Gathering fervor, she backed up a step and thrust-kicked the door next to the knob. The door and its frame were sturdy, but she repeated the action again… and… again… and again.

His screams grew louder.

"Damn it!" Higgs swore before gathering momentum and stomped at it with her heel for the last time, smashing it open. She nearly fell when the door gave away with her, but she gathered her bearings quickly and rushed into the room. All would've seemed normal, had it not been for the teen on his bed, squirming as if he was being attacked.

" _ **Covey myself to the FORGE**_!" Marco continued to scream as he clutched at his cheeks. " _ **Become like NEW**_!"

"…What…?" Higgs nearly scratched her head in confusion; she'd been certain that he was being assaulted, only to witness his strange carrying-on in his own bed. A nightmare, _perhaps_? Regardless of her sharp drop in concern, she reached across and grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to shake him awake. "Hey! Marco! Wake up!"

The boy only continued to yell his anguish as he seemingly tried to dig his fingers into his face to rip at his cheeks. She could see (even _through_ his hands), that there was a bright light beneath them and tried to pull his hands away from his face before he did irreparable damage. She found that she could not-… was he always that strong?

Left with no other options, she yanked him up off of his bed, standing him upright so that his new position would wake him. It began to tell; soon, his screaming died down as he begun to awaken. "…To the forge," he mumbled strangely as his eyes opened slowly, "Become like new…" Becoming impatient, Higgs shook him awake for the last time.

"WAKE… UP!"

"Huh… Wha-?" His lids fully opened, only for him to stare into worried emerald eyes. His face momentarily reddened from the closeness of their contact before he backpedaled away from her. "Hmm? _Higgs_? What're you doing in my _room_?" She was about to answer but gasped instead when his hands fell away from his cheeks. "What?"

"Must be in green marker or something," Higgs muttered under her breath. She licked a thumb and dabbed at his cheek, then the other, trying to rub them as if to erase something. It only served to annoy the Diaz and heighten his confusion, even more so when her own expression mirrored the exact same. "They're _real…_ " she whispered in awe. "Are you **royalty**?"

"What're you talking about?" He hadn't forgotten his grievances against her and her actions, much less the fact that her very presence in her room was unwanted. Looking past her, he saw that his door was kicked in. "Did you break into my room?! Is this a _**joke**_?!" he fumed. "What the hell, Higgs!"

"Look, I was just-"

"Just _what_?"

"I uh, came to give you this sword, and err… say sorry…." she sputtered, getting muddled in her priorities, "and you were screaming and…"

"AND WHAT?"

She was getting nowhere. Looking around the room, she spied a dresser with an upper-torso mirror. She turned and steered him towards it so that he could see his reflection. "Look at your cheeks! You've got marks on 'em, like the queens and princesses! How about **you** explain _that,_ huh?!"

Seeing it for himself, Marco nearly recoiled from his own reflection. "Wha-…?" He touched one, then the other. He scratched, rubbed and nearly scraped at his flesh with his nails had he not been cautioned to stop by the girl. "What _happened_? And why are you even here in the first place? And… these crescents on my cheeks… and my door is broken… and…"

Higgs shook her head while grunting. "Stop! You're going to drive me out of _my mind_ if you keep that up…" Exhaling deeply, she decided to begin at the very outset. "I came here to apologize." Suddenly feeling a pang of nervousness, she took his hand in hers, grasping it tightly. "I'm sorry, Marco. I know that… I know that I shouldn't have gambled on your life… and I'm **not** just saying that because I lost the bet." She grinned at this, but her shot at humor was lost on him. Her smile fell into a more solemn expression while she continued. "It was inconsiderate of me, and _I'm sorry_. Really."

He made no response. He waited as if indicating for her to continue.

"I was going to come by yesterday on Stump Day… you know, camaraderie and all that junk. I was even going to give you a peace offering. It took me some time to sort out…" She reached for the sword that hung from her hip, unhooked it from her belt and handed it to him. "A squire needs a weapon, I guess…" she said lamely. "The timing was good. I heard about how you wanted a weapon from the knights but they didn't want to give you one...?"

"That's true." Marco grasped the thick hilt of the one-handed sword and pulled it out of its scabbard. It was a short-sword, typically used in hunting although it sported a circular hilt as if it was also meant for battle. The boy guessed the blade to be around twenty-inches long and sharpened to the point that it could only be described as _evil_. At the risk of losing influence, he thanked her profusely. "Thanks, Higgs. Feels like…" He swung it around in a show of dexterity, reminiscent of the one-handed sword he wielded in Hekapoo's dimension. "Feels kinda light, and _heavy_ at the same time. I like it."

She raised an eyebrow as if that wasn't what she sought to hear. Taking a hint, he did just that.

"And your apology is accepted. Next time, you should bet that I'll win. Especially now that I've gotten this sword, am I right?"

Higgs smiled good-naturedly at his jest; it was likely done to ensure that she knew that she'd been entirely forgiven. The sword, surely it wasn't the greatest one she had ever seen, though it was good to know that he appreciated both it _and_ her confession. "Of course." Her smile fell a little before she moved forward in her regale. "When I came here, you were screaming. I thought that you were being attacked or something." Higgs neglected to mention that she'd been peering through the keyhole, nor did she speak of the green light she had seen; it was debatable at this time, and she wasn't entirely sure that she'd seen it in the first place. "The door was locked, so I kicked it down. But there wasn't anyone in there. Just a guy freaking out in his bed."

He took the jab at his respect easily. He was listening to what she said, but he could still clearly hear everything she _didn't_ say. She'd been concerned for him. True, it cost him his door, yet he felt that he'd gained something far more. People who legitimately cared enough to fret for his wellbeing seemed to be rather few nowadays, making him prize the minority that did. Unexpectedly, he never would've speculated that Higgs would be a part of that tiny statistic. It'd been a short space of time and a small amount of interaction to change their outlooks of each other. Marco never even hazarded a guess that it'd be this much.

"Gee, thanks for that," he mumbled sarcastically. "So after you found me _freaking out_ , you tried to wake me up?"

"Yeah, that's right," she affirmed. "Your hands were covering your cheeks and when you pulled them away, I saw these…" she pointed at his cheeks, "crescent symbols. So you're royalty after all, huh? Maybe you'll end up being king?" She ribbed him playfully. "Just make sure that you remember the little guys. And by 'little guys', I mean _me_."

"You know that it's the Queens who rule the kingdom," Marco said quietly. He turned away from her to look at his reflection again, noting the archaic white lines that ran throughout the green crescents on his cheeks. They looked… _cool_ , he'd admit that. But what did this all mean? "Higgs? What else happened? Did you see anything else? Maybe-" he turned back to her only to find that she was helping herself to the cake that Kelly had given him the night before. "Really? That's been sitting on the table since last night."

She continued eating. Obviously, she cared little for its age and its exposure. Probably because she doesn't have desserts often, Marco presumed. She did make a pause to ask him if he was fine with her having it. After nodding to her, Higgs resumed, watching as Marco began to gaze at himself in the mirror. He checked his eyes, peered here and pinched there. He even went as far as to pose in a flex, only to embarrass himself when Higgs cleared her throat to get his attention, signifying that he should've recalled the fact that he wasn't alone.

"Um… Marco? I'm still here. Just so you know."

Marco didn't answer at first. To him, nothing made sense and logic did not follow. Why did he have these crescents on his cheeks? He remembered having them when he used Star's wand to cast the All-Seeing Eye spell, but they disappeared as soon as the incantation was over. Was this a remnant of that time resurfacing? Contracting his muscles once again, he realized that something had changed-… and it wasn't just the appearance of the symbols. In all things before, he'd felt human. Not in the existential sense, but corporeal. He'd been bound by limitations before. He was still the same, his senses, physical strength, and judgment… they hadn't changed. Yet, his core limitations felt as if they've been removed from him in the way that chaff was plucked from grain.

If he could train himself to reinforce himself against a force or weight, he'd eventually be able to. If he could focus his mental acuity by learning in excess, he saw no reason why he could not surpass that of the acclaimed geniuses he looked up to. But why did he feel as if his limits for adaptation did not exist anymore? To feel as if he had a nigh-unlimited potential?

Higgs broke into his thoughts. "This is getting super weird. First, this green light was flashing in your room, then you started carrying on like you were getting stabbed or something and after **that** , you kept bawling this one line over and over. Now, you're staring off into space. Maybe you should get yourself checked out… or get a head examination," Higgs mumbled the last under her breath.

A green light? He ignored that in favor of the bit that sounded more informative. "I was saying something? What did I say?"

"You weren't _saying_ it. You were **screaming** it. Kinda girly, if you ask me-"

"What did I say?" Marco interrupted.

"Oh… um." She racked her short-term memory for the answer. "I think it was 'Convey me to the forge'? 'Become like new'? Yeah, that's it. 'Convey myself to the forge, become like new.' That's what you were going on about."

This perplexed him. There was something akin to a fishhook in his mind, yanking away as he tried to call to mind what was so important about the phrase. It felt so _familiar_ , and yet foreign at the same time. With a shrug of resignation, he decided that he'd just address someone about it, someone who was more learned about these things. He was already thinking of the Magic High Commission, only to for it to cause him to frown. They weren't any help at all concerning his 'voice' issue. Why would that change now?

It was times like this when he actually missed Glossaryck.

Marco sighed deeply. First things first, he decided. He was about to prep himself for the day, only to step onto something hard and unforgiving. "Ow! What the-!" Removing his foot from the object in a flinch and looking down, he noticed some sort of statuette on the ground and picked it up. "What is… this?" His complexion began to pale as he took note of how much it looked like him; red hoodie, jeans, his expression. However, what threw him for a loop was the fact that it had crescents on its cheeks as well.

In an instant, extremely vague memories of his dream the night before began to clear, realizations began to click and things, (though odd given the fact that the figurine came from his own **mind** ), started to make sense. "I… remember."

" _ **Destroy… The Wellspring."**_ The familiar voice spoke from the reaches of his mind, only serving to clarify things.

"I remember," Marco repeated. "I know what I have to do." With steadily rising conviction, he said it with more force of will. "I know what I have to _do_ …"

"Do what?" Higgs asked, oblivious to inner workings and thoughts. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

Marco considered himself, then the task that had been set before him. He was still unsure as to whether he'd destroy the Wellspring or not, but if one thing was certain, he'd have to find some way to abolish magic or to at least significantly curb its usage. Quite daunting either way-… he'd have to change this dimension's very way of life and the ripples of consequences would be sure to follow through to every other dimension, including his own. But it was vital! Someone had to stop the usage of magic! By all means necessary...

That noted, he'd hadn't even begun to bear in mind about the people whose life centered on it. The Queen, the members of the Magic High Commission, those who depended on magic to make a living... and Star Butterfly…

Marco sought for the answer. Was he really alright?

"You know what, Higgs?" he said at last. "I think I'm just fine."

* * *

 **Done.**

 **So is the coffee… and the Advil…**

 **-Well, I've taken all things into consideration. There was especially the matter in which a Guest (you know yourself) was a bit concerned about Tom's behavior. I decided to just drop in the first 1k to show that he's actually drifting back into his 'possessive' ways (as Star mentioned during his first return in canon) because he's insecure about Star remaining his girlfriend. I revealed today that Star had told him what Marco had confessed to her, so naturally, he's** _ **concerned**_ **.**

 **Who wouldn't?**

 **I even went so far as to make Tom the one who's actually concerned about the Blood Moon sacrament. I reckon it's a decent variation in perspective. Let someone else think about it for a change!**

 **-This was a bit of a transitional chapter. It hardly helped to advance the plot, though it was worthwhile to see some character development, especially some that was Higgs-centric.**

 **-Marco, Marco, Marco. At the risk of incorporating ideas from another fic of mine, I salvaged another initiative to make him stronger. I removed his limitations. To get stronger, faster, smarter, quicker and versatile without any human limitations-… before he can attain that, however, he has to train to get to that point. So if I can make it clear, can he bench a lot of pounds?**

 **Yes. If he continues to train until he gets there, step by step, he definitely can. Still, time is an issue where that is concerned, not to mention the fact that his body needs to adapt over the course of time to get there. I need him to be able to get stronger if he's going to affront those who are magic proficient… and to be able to present a** _ **threat**_ **.**

 **YEAH! (Laughs maniacally)**

 **Next chapter, things start to get real. It should be out within the week.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	6. Break

**Vestiges**

 **I have a lot to cover. I'm doing a bit of a skip. It's been a month since Marco woke up with the brand.**

 **6.**

"Moon, something has to be done!"

The Queen of Mewni clasped her hands in a bid to control her own conflicting inner emotions as she regarded all the other members of the Magic High Commission. "And what do you mean by 'something', Omnitraxus?"

The deity of Space and Time folded his massive arms. "Solitary."

"Confinement?" Hekapoo guessed to finish her fellow divinity's proposal. "We're going to throw him in a prison cell? Don't you think that's kinda **excessive**?"

"To be honest, at this point, I don't care where he's placed. He should be quarantined and set to stay by himself. It's been nearly two months since he brought up that voice in his head, and now he's getting _worse_. It's either that, or we send him on a one-way trip back to Earth Dimension. At least he'll be out of our lives and stop inciting trouble."

"If he's here, we can keep an eye on him…" Hekapoo suggested casually. The measures already sounded rather harsh and far be it from her to allow them to 'punish' someone she doted on. "Maybe even solitary confinement is a bit of stretch-"

"You've gone soft, Hekapoo." Omnitraxus gave his say as easily as if he was talking about the weather. "Ever since you snatched him up to make him earn his scissors from you, you've been partial to him."

"No, I haven't." She very nearly ousted herself when making her defense. "C'mon! This is Marco we're talking about! He wouldn't harm a fly-"

"He's evil!" Rhombulus interrupted. "I can sense it!" His own snake-arms interjected with the fact that he'd already mistakenly believed many innocents were evil, giving Hekapoo a bolster in her quarrel.

"Thanks. Rhombulus, you should listen to your arms. They've got good judgment, and I can't believe they're the only ones! This is _Marco_. We all **know** him. The princess boarded with him for nearly a year. She's his best friend. Hell, some people call him the 'safe kid'! He's the kind of guy who looks out for everybody! He's probably even afraid to step on ants, for Pete's sakes!"

Omnitraxus frowned deeply. "I see… so you really have gotten attached."

"No…" Hekapoo lied easily, "but I'm arguing facts here. You're the one who keeps acting up about locking up Marco here, or imprisoning him there." Hekapoo rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's starting to make me think that there are two Rhombulus's in this room, and that's already two more than what I can already handle."

"Hey!"

"Alright, enough!" Moon raised her voice to settle them. "I admit that Marco's behavior is rather unsettling…"

"That's an understatement." Prime grumbled heatedly. "First, he mentions that there's a voice in his head that's telling him to destroy the Wellspring. We all knew that something was amiss, but we decided to forget about it when he said that the voice went away on it own. And _now_? He's going around preachin' that we need to stop using magic. Is he out of his mind?"

"The voice went away," Hekapoo reminded. "Maybe it was just a temporary side effect of a spell or something. Maybe this is just a phase too."

"Or the voice took over his mind!" Rhombulus yelled. "He's evil! Or he's at least _becoming_ evil. The voice was talking about something that only we should know, not even Moon! It's where Glossaryck made us! It's where we were born! If he wants to destroy that-"

"He's basically asking us to stop the lifeblood in our _veins_ ," Omnitraxus said quietly. "The essence of the Wellspring is what's giving us our very existence. If he wants to destroy that, then I'll have to wholeheartedly agree with Rhombulus. He's either becoming evil or at the **very** **least** , _not to be trusted._ "

Post this utterance, there was a long silence. Each occupant of the room was locked in their own thoughts on the subject. Even more than Moon, Hekapoo was still trying to weigh her feelings for the teen, versus her wishes to perform her responsibilities. She was certain that she was still devoted to them, yet she found it in her to try to better Marco's image in the eyes of the Council.

"He's not talking about the Wellspring anymore. He's only carrying on like one of those apocalyptic-preachers that 'if we continue to use magic, we're only endangering the dimensions'. It's not the first time that people with addled minds have talked about something like that." The volcanic demigoddess sighed deeply, trying to gather herself. "But I get this, okay? Marco's been acting strangely. But what we're not thinking about is 'how', and 'why'. There are still a lot of questions we have that are still unanswered, and until they are, we should try to give Marco the benefit of the doubt."

The Queen shook her head. "Hekapoo, I would agree with you, but these circumstances are different. Take Ludo, for instance. I gave _him_ that benefit, and we lost far too much." Moon gazed aside to see the empty chair next to Rhombulus who was mumbling 'Lekmet' to himself sadly. "If there is something amiss, we should take measures to counter it and to suppress any danger it presents."

"Oh? So let's lock him up, then," Hekapoo commented strangely. "It's not like he could possibly be some sort of relative to you, am I right? He's got the birthmarks that princesses exhibit a few years after they're born. Maybe he's a stunted experiment of the royal family that no one told us about… just like when Star lost the book of spells AND the most powerful being in the universe in one night. No one told us anything," Hekapoo said critically, hinting at the fact that the royal family was _too_ discrete about important matters. "Hell, what if this is all because of some strange magic spell that they've used on him?"

"That's a rather dark allegation Hekapoo," Omnitraxus chastised, "although I agree with the last. Perhaps he really IS under the effects of a spell." He looked pointedly at Moon as if in accusation, but the woman shook her head.

"It wasn't me. The only other people within miles of Marco who'd be able to perform magic would be Star… and…"

"Eclipsa…" Omnitraxus breathed. "I knew that we gave her too much leeway! She should be chained at least twice as much-"

"I'll just crystallize her and save us the effort!" Rhombulus interjected. "And maybe Marco too… as a precaution." He said the last like an afterthought softly. "Just a precaution."

"We're not crystallizing anyone!" Moon shouted. "Not Marco and **not** Eclipsa! We've overcome a hurdle-… that of being unprejudiced to her and to judge her in a fair trial when the chance arises."

"And what's that waiting for?" Omnitraxus asked in ridicule. "Is the trial waiting for us to admit to Star that we don't have any evidence to prove that Eclipsa's evil? That all we have is hearsay? Not one of us was present during her rule, so we can't even provide testimony. All we can do is make assumptions. Now here we are…" Omnitraxus held out his arms in a plea. "We are faced with the dilemma of a boy who's trying to cease the usage of magic and to pervert our very way of life. And we're not able to act on it because we have no proof! This is all circumstantial evidence at best, Moon!"

"You got that right," Hekapoo said under her breath before regarding the Queen. "What about Star? Did she say anything about Marco?"

"She did," Moon affirmed, "although it was done to share her concerns that are similar to ours. She's of the belief that he's indeed changed. She has her rather petty reasons. 'Marco won't do this, Marco doesn't want that', type of scenario. Her most concerning issue was the fight that Marco and Tom had a month ago."

"Oh, that? I heard it was just a little scuffle." Hekapoo's visible eye half-lidded in loss of interest. "What, were they fighting over Star or something?"

"Something to that effect, yes," the woman agreed. "It probably had something to do with Star's birthday party, or so Star's friend, 'Kelly', told me when I tried to dig around a bit. The confrontation is starting to sour the general morale in the castle and naturally, everyone's afraid to pick sides given the fact that no one really knows who was in the wrong, and incurring the risk of offending one for the other."

"More proof that Marco's changing for the worst. Oh joy," Omnitraxus said sarcastically. "So what happens next?"

Moon thought on this for a bit, trying to determine the best course of action. "I suppose we should all have words with Marco. I'd like to hear what he has to say." The queen hemmed a bit. "Right now, actually."

Hekapoo shook her head. "I guess I could pulled him here anytime he tried to create a portal. The thing is… I haven't sensed him use it for the longest while."

"So are you saying you can't find him?" Omnitraxus asked.

"Nope. I didn't say that. I'm just thinking that he's practicing what he preaches."

"Even though it's wrong!" Rhombulus cried.

"I didn't say he was right." Hekapoo took out her own pair of dimensional scissors to open a portal which she then stuck her hand through.

* * *

Marco did not count his efforts. Not anymore.

The Diaz's body dipped and rose repeatedly in quick succession as he continued his push-ups. He continued them in fervor, knowing that he had good motivation.

He was _weak_.

He knew what it was like to be strong-… he'd been at his peak when he'd bested Hekapoo's challenges. From the very second he'd returned to Earth, he had felt his muscle-mass become degraded in such drastic manner that he'd become despondent for days, though not as bad as when he 'lost' the fight to Tom.

It was a trifling confrontation, mostly dealt in grapples and holds as they argued their points. Marco had the better argument; the problem was, it was hardly any good disputing it whilst he was neck-locked by the Lucitor.

He never had any ill-beliefs that he could beat the demon spawn. That much was true.

He was unsure now as to who was in the wrong, but he was sure that Tom was acting bigoted. He'd only respectfully declined the sandwich (of the very same kind as his, Marco noted), that Star was offering him. He was merely trying to show Star how much she'd embarrassed him, how she'd declined the hard-earned fruit of his endeavors. It only made him that much more reject what she tried to give him, knowing that she probably just magic-blasted whatever sandwich monster she found into unconsciousness within a second, only to teleport out with the sandwich moments later. She probably didn't even look as if she'd expended a little more effort in keeping it together like he had; it'd most likely fallen apart a little and she'd tried to reassemble the problematic areas by hand.

He had to admit, he felt rather smug in repeating the exact same phrase she'd told him.

" _It would make me happy to see it make you happy."_

Of course Tom, who was with her at the time, didn't like that at all.

" _Just take the sandwich, Marco! Damn! She went through a lot of trouble to get this for you!"_

" _Really? How much trouble, Tom? Was she nearly_ _ **crushed**_ _trying to get it? Maybe having to jump off a cliff just to save herself? Oh, wait… she can fly now. And she has magic. Gravity makes exceptions for Butterflies. Didn't you know?"_

Looking back, Marco couldn't believe that he'd said that. Star seemingly tried to apologize, but Tom stopped her.

" _You don't have to say that you're sorry, Star." He looked at Marco with disdain. "And I can't believe that I was going to do the same thing. Why she'd try to plan a 'Friendship Thursday' with you today, I'll_ _ **never**_ _understand. You wanted her to take your sandwich, and yet you don't want to take hers? You're a damn hypocrite."_

" _That's not the point. It just irks me to know that I went through a lot of trouble to try and give Star gifts that no one else could. She can already make and do nearly everything! I_ _ **risked**_ _my_ _ **life**_ _to get the sandwich._ _ **Sixteen years**_ _of my_ _ **life**_ _went into earning those scissors. So… she politely 'declined'. That hurt me. I wasn't trying to upstage anyone else, or even whatever you tried to give her. I was willing to sacrifice everything just to make her happy! She might as well have thrown them back in my face."_

 _Star's face became crestfallen. She'd most likely seen the logic behind his reasoning and felt ashamed._

" _Now then, if you'll excuse me, Tom… I have a long list of things that she-" Marco pointed at Star, "wants me to get."_

" _Um… Marco?" Star spoke nearly inaudibly. "I canceled that order so that we could hang out today. Don't you want to? It'll be just like we used to…"_

Marco had to admit it to himself. He _wanted_ to take her up on her offer; it was tempting. It would've made more sense than to further the sandwich fiasco, and he **did** miss those times. They were already nostalgic.

But Tom butted in before Marco could answer.

" _You don't have to bother yourself with him, Star. He doesn't care." The Lucitor's frown became filled with even more contempt as he glared at Marco. "Some 'friend' you are, and that's coming from a demon like_ _ **me**_ _."_

 _Marco, suffice to say, went for the throat._

The Diaz had to admit it to himself. It did feel out of his character to speak, behave and _retaliate_ like that, although he was beginning to think it was because he'd resented Tom for the longest while. Sure, they'd become friends, but there were new sides of the Lucitor coming out… or were there new sides to Marco?

He didn't know.

Marco finally finished his push-ups, or rather, _quit_ doing them. It was almost becoming boring; he figured that he'd gone well into the hundreds, and he wasn't feeling the least bit tired. He decided that he needed weights in order to move on. Looking down at his arms, feeling the slight soreness that lingered in them since he'd begun his physical regimen. He'd improved somewhat quickly; his muscles were already fairly developed since his time spent in the Castle's Laundry room, but now they were nearly as hard as wood, built leanly instead of bulky. He briefly pondered where his core strength was coming from; Appendaxuz had mentioned something about 'Alpha' and 'mold', instilling the belief that Marco was developing a near-superhuman strength.

If 'might made right', then he'd better damn well get stronger, didn't he?

This, however, wasn't taken as good news. While he was grateful, he knew that this 'blessing' was given to him for a reason. He most likely needed this strength to achieve his default objective, that is, to destroy the Wellspring. All of his speeches and entreating were getting him nowhere, and earned him nothing but scorn and ridicule from those who actually paid attention to him. There were a few exceptions, of course, but he'd never dreamed that Star _wouldn't_ be a part of it. Then again, it wasn't much of a surprise.

" _ **They… hate… you…"**_ A voice whispered into his psyche, unbeknownst to Marco himself.

"Do they… hate me? No… that can't be right…" Yea, in all these things, was there another reason to get stronger? Was he only strengthening himself not just for his herculean task, but also for conflict? Would he have to fight them?

"… _ **Yes…"**_

"I suppose I will. I mean… what if Appendaxuz is right? What if Star… and Moon… maybe even River… what if everyone tries to stop me? Won't I have to fight them in order to destroy the Wellspring…?" His own questionings were becoming less and less unsure, and his own certainty rose. Even more so, he was already starting to see himself doing so. Not killing them… well, if any of them tried to kill him, he wasn't sure of what could happen. Tom was a hair-trigger at this point. Pony Head had never really warmed up to him, substituting his real name for an insult. Could he really _trust_ anyone? More than just a few villains that worked with Ludo, even Ludo himself, had their moments when they had a change of heart and became all the better out of it.

Didn't that also mean that the 'good' people he knew were liable to do evil…? What if the usage of magic or the wish of being able to perform magic was what corrupted people…?!

Marco was beginning to confuse himself again.

" _ **Destroy… the Wellspring…"**_ Appendaxuz spoke clearly to him. The teen scratched his head when he heard this, wondering if the being was only capable of sending messages such as this when his mind was hectic. Marco was, even now, trying to collect both of his intelligences (that of teenage _and_ adult), and unite them both. He knew what he'd been capable of, and he wanted it **back**. His traits. His skills. Nearly always, he had at least two responses for every new conundrum, that of both of his minds trying to solve it. His progress was slow in doing this, but he knew that they were coming back. His reflexes were returning. His higher-level mental faculties were nearly that of his adult's. The one-handed sword that Higgs had given him felt right at home in his hands, similar to his first one from Hekapoo's dimension.

He was improving himself on all levels, he presumed, and re-combining both the young and the older aspects of himself. Perhaps he'd been trying to do this for the longest while, preparing for conflict. Nonetheless, he wanted his inner entity's guidance. Thinking back to his disquisition with the blue man, he wondered if was really his own mind 'holding him back' from doing so.

"Hmm… so he can only speak to me clearly when I'm in a deep sleep? When I'm at my calmest? And what about when he told me to meditate?" He thought of meditating to clear his mind in an experiment to see if he could freely converse with him once more, but before he could begin, a fiery portal erupted beside him. He was already ducking away from the arm that emerged from it in an effort to snatch him, startled into thinking it was Tom although he soon realized that it wasn't the case. It wasn't the Lucitor's style, anyway, not to mention the fact that he'd recognize the white, spiked arm anywhere. "…Hekapoo. What does **she** want?" he grumbled heatedly to himself.

The demigoddess must've realized that he'd evaded her grasp because he saw her arm, as she then stuck her upper torso through the portal. "Yo, Marco!"

"I'm getting tired of you grabbing me like that, Hekapoo," Marco chided. "Can't you just introduce your appearance and say what you want like everyone else?"

"Um…" Hekapoo shrugged. "Okay. Marco, It's Hekapoo. Come through this portal... right now."

Marco turned away from her. "No."

"What…?" Hekapoo groaned in frustration. "You're not still hot under the collar because I laughed at you… are you?"

"It's the main reason," Marco said lowly as he looked at her over his shoulder. "You laughed in my face."

"It's because it's preposterous! 'Don't create any more dimensional scissors, Hekapoo. Doom and apocalypse.'" The demigoddess chuckled a bit to herself. "You have to admit that it's impossible to believe."

"That's two-faced. Magic defies the impossible every few seconds!" Marco defended. "Besides, even if I wanted to, why the hell would you call for me? I thought we were done working together."

"I know that I said some things out of anger…" Hekapoo said quietly as she looked at the defiant teen. "And we both know that they were justified. But the least you can do is help me… to help _you_."

Marco turned to face her as she stepped out of the portal into his room. "Excuse me? Help you… to help _me_?"

"That's right," she agreed as she approached him, "the Commission wants you to explain yourself right now. I've been sticking my neck out for you, and all that's coming out of it is that everyone thinks you're either crazy or evil. They want you locked up, especially Omnitraxus. Rhombulus, on the other hand, wants you crystallized."

Marco sighed. "Omnitraxus and Rhombulus again, huh? I'm not evil. Besides, I passed all of your absurd tests to see if I'm evil or not. Peeking at my eyes and checking me for 'evil' fleas. And here I was; I thought I'd already heard of everything."

"That's hardly worth anything right now," Hekapoo insisted as she started to tug on his arm to pull him back to the portal. She found it difficult-… in fact, he hardly budged as he stood his ground. "Come on, Marco! Don't be difficult!"

"So you've been defending me?"

Hekapoo hesitated, wondering what it would mean if she admitted the truth; after a moment, she did. "Yeah. Now get going." Marco moved slowly with her to the portal, his mind racing. He was already considering all those who seemed to be adverse to him as well those who apparently siding with him as well. He thought back to the chessboard that Appendaxuz had shown him, thinking of the possibilities. Many people were against what he was saying, though he still had but few friends who either did not care for what he said or believed him. In blunt terms, he was playing a risky game without all of his pieces, whilst the other side was numerous. With this matter looming in his mind, he realized that it was important to know who were his allies… and it was even more important to know who his _enemies_ were.

As he reached the portal, he motioned for her to lead before him. "Ladies first." She looked at him in surprise, although she repaid his remark with a wink.

"I'm an independent. I walk over guys like you to get to the top."

"How wonderful," he said sarcastically mostly to himself, "I've always enjoyed being a mat. You think I'm doing this because I like you?"

"There must be a reason why you chased after me for sixteen years, Marco."

"You wanted me to!" The teen defended. "And besides, I did that to earn the scissors!"

"…" Hekapoo looked at him strangely, as if trying to gauge him. Thinking _very_ carefully, she made her riposte. "Then why were you so hesitant to leave? Marco, I've been alive for a _long_ time." He got the hint that she was a socialism expert from experience, but he chose to ignore it.

"Just go through the damn portal. I was only trying to be polite and **you** decided to get smart." With a shrug, she stepped through the portal, followed closely by the earthling. On the other side, he entered a meeting hall that was occupied by the members of the Magic High Commision, including Queen Moon herself. "Oh… hello, everyone. How are you?"

"Let's not waste any time," the Queen stated, "I take it that you know why you're here?"

"I do, but I'd really like to know why I _need_ to be here in the first place. Are you all going to stop using magic-"

"Of course we're not!" Rhombulus exclaimed.

"Figures." Marco watched as Hekapoo took a seat and wondered if he should do the same in the sole empty chair. He decided to remain standing, lest he violated some sort of seating taboo. Nonetheless, he went on the offensive in the argument immediately, settling that it'd be the best way to defend himself. "I know how…" he chose his next word carefully, " _precarious_ things were when Toffee caused the magical fritz. He even drained all of you of your magic and almost took your lives. He did all of that while he was in the _very frail_ body of Ludo. I suppose it only goes to show how dependent you all are on magic, am I right?"

"Point," Moon conceded, "and it could easily be said that you're trying to achieve the same thing as he was but on a much larger scale. In that same vein, I'd caution that we're not the ones being arbitrated at this time, Marco. It's _you_."

Diaz nodded simply. "Of course. You all know of Appendaxuz? I told you all about him almost a month ago. It was kinda like a vision, and he warned me that I should 'destroy the Wellspring'."

"What did he look like?" Omnitraxus demanded.

"He looked exactly like Glossaryck," Marco deadpanned in reminder. "But he had a green crystal in his forehead."

"It would explain the color of the symbols on your cheeks," Moon hazarded to guess. "But do you know when and why he showed up?"

"I first heard his voice after…" Marco hesitated. He was urged on all sides to continue and soon succumbed to the pressure. "I heard his voice after I admitted my feelings to Star, your daughter." Marco did a slight bow. "Ma'am."

Moon frowned. "Hmm… very well. But how did you come to hear him? Why only you?"

This part was easier to admit, although it was still difficult. "He said it was because I read the page of the book where he was imprisoned in... the Book of Spells."

"Which page? Which chapter?" Omnitraxus pressed.

"It was Eclipsa's chapter, wasn't it?!" Rhombulus demanded. "It's all coming back to Elipsa! Wasn't it hers?"

This time, Marco's hesitance only increased. His perception of the past Queen had changed, more or less, in the few times he'd interacted with her through Star or by bare coincidence. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was because she dabbled in magic with dire side-effects and eloped with a monster, both things which were heavily frowned upon. She seemed… innocent. He didn't wish to implicate her in his business; it'd only worsen her image, as well as his own. Furthermore, Star had taken a liking to her, and she wouldn't be pleased if Marco pointed any fingers at Eclipsa, regardless of whether he had to tell the truth or not.

'You know what, Star? You didn't want to listen to my warnings to stop abusing magic. I don't care if you want to get pissed at me. Besides…" He looked at Omnitraxus and Moon. 'It'd only be worse later if they found out I lied.' "It was Eclipsa's chapter."

…

Eclipsa just knew it was going to be one of her off-days when one of the members of the Magic High Commission came to fetch her from her room in the locked tower. Her hands were still bound in heavy fist-manacles that covered them straight down to her fingers, and her feet were in chains together. The Magic High Commission was composed of reputedly the strongest beings in all of the dimensions-… why would she think that _running_ away from them would work? She had no intention of fleeing or using any sort of magic. It was nothing new, although the scenario was.

Perhaps she was going on trial today?

'Hmm… No. Everyone's a judge here.' She noted the hard glares of distrust and kept her cool, not feeling the least bit intimidated. 'No jury… no witnesses. But what's Marco doing here?' She looked at him intently, yet he failed to look her in the eyes, settling to avert his gaze elsewhere. 'How odd. I wonder if he's starting to believe whatever they've been telling him…'

"Eclipsa," Moon's accosting was already sounding dire. "Did you know of any sort of creature called… 'Appendaxuz'?"

This came entirely out of left field. This was one of the last topics she'd expected to be confronted on and stammered a bit. "Oh… Err-"

"Prompt and truthful answers are _advised_ ," Moon warned severely, "as this matter is rather imperative."

"Yes I do, Moon," Eclipsa said at last. "Glossaryck had relations with him, that I'm sure of. Where he stood, however, I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" Before anyone else could answer, Omnitraxus urged her to continue her exposition. It was a precaution; he wasn't sure if Eclipsa would change her responses and lie to suit Marco if she knew that the matter revolved around him. "Well, Glossaryck, for one, always said that he was 'evil'-"

"And that's all we needed to hear!" Rhombulus interrupted in an outburst. "Hekapoo can take you back to your tower. Now then…" He got up and was about to go over to a shocked Marco to detain him, but Moon cautioned him to stop.

"No…" She turned to Eclipsa. "Please continue."

The former queen stared at Marco's expression and Rhombulus's behavior and put two-and-two together. She didn't change her stance on the situation, however; the truth would be enough. "I've always felt that 'good' and 'evil' were labels that varied with different situations and perspectives in the same way that a war would determine who was stronger, rather than right? In that same subject, I can't necessarily accept everything that Glossaryck said as the truth. In each instance when he taught a princess how to use magic, his methods would change."

Moon nodded. "With me, he was informative. He was vague with Star, however."

"As for me, though, he was a bit of a whimsical liar. Anything that popped into his head would already be on his lips. It took me a long time to determine whether it was the truth or not, but that was a while after I'd met Appendaxuz. He seemed like a literal fellow, and he antagonized Glossarcyk quite a bit. In turn, they had a falling-out and in the end, Appendaxuz ended up being sealed in the book. Glossaryck reasoned that he should be in my chapter, as I had been in the practice of using spells to keep it secure. It was almost as if I had locked someone inside my diary…" Eclipsa laughed amiably to herself, before suddenly thinking of something averse. "Is he back as well, like Glossaryck? I'd imagine that if they both lost the crystals on their foreheads, no one would be able to tell them apart-"

"I think we've heard enough of that," Omnitraxus stated, as she'd affirmed only Marco's descriptions and reasoning why Appendaxuz was in his mind. "But did he have any goals? How did he feel about magic?"

"He absolutely hated it, and he abhorred seeing me use it." Eclipsa said simply. "So it's fairly obvious why Glossaryck didn't see eye to eye. He even went on to tell me to destroy 'The Wellspring', whatever that was." It was here that Eclipsa's usually relaxed demeanor dropped a bit. "It was shortly after that when he and Glossaryck duked it out. I never did see him again after that; I've already said why." She wondered if she had said something damning for anyone, especially for Marco. It _was_ why he was even there, wasn't it? Because this concerned **him**.

"I suppose that's all?" Moon asked.

"That is all."

"Very well." Moon turned to Hekapoo; before she could re-task her, the demigoddess was already setting about to do just that-… to transfer the fallen Queen back to her tower.

…

"This is a waste of time," Marco remarked impatiently. "She barely told you anything that I didn't already tell you!"

"That doesn't mean that believed you." Rhombulus agreed with the deity of Space and Time and went on to admit that he didn't believe either of them.

"We're not in cahoots, Rhombulus!" Marco felt the last shreds of his patience wane away. "Everything I've said must've gone through everyone's ears and out through the other! I'm sick of it! You think that I don't know what I'm talking about, and I know I do. And just now, I've found out that it's actually more urgent. If he warned Eclipsa so far back in the past, doesn't that mean that it's even more crucial now since magic has been used habitually until now?"

"You acting like a brat in a tantrum isn't helping your case, Marco," the Queen replied calmly.

"So I'm right. You're **not** listening to me because I'm only fifteen. Besides you, Queen Moon," he pointed at her, then all the others in turn, "everyone else here must be hundreds, if not **thousands** of years old just by Earth's time standards." He could feel the ridicule roll off of Omnitraxus especially and could sense that he held him in contempt.

"If we're in disagreement and as is to be expected, one of us is wrong," Moon insisted with the wisdom of her years. "And it's usually because of ignorance, Marco."

"So you admit that you're ignorant?"

"It's a possibility," she admitted carelessly. "But consider whether or not your own objective is correct. Is Appendaxuz really who he says he is? Is he truthful? Does he have good intentions? We can't even verify his existence, that is, Omnitraxus can't; not in this timeline, realities, nothing. That's a liability."

"It only goes to show that he's on the same level as Glossarck!" Marco protested. "And wasn't Glossaryck the one who _created_ the members of the Magic High Commission?"

Omnitraxus considered himself a master of Space and Time and hated having his post belittled because of technicalities. "Is that so? Is that why he lost to Glossaryck and got sealed?" he said sharply, leaving no room for a retort. "The matter is farcical, and we have no way to tell if this 'Appendaxuz' should be accredited. Glossaryck didn't, and we've inherited his standards and beliefs that magic should be utilized."

Marco took a deep breath, trying to remind himself to stay on topic. "So no one believes me? _No one_?"

"I'd say that I _disagree_ with you," Hekapoo commented. "After all, we're the _Magic High Commision_. It's what we stand for."

"That doesn't mean that you have to veto whether or not other people choose to believe me!" Marco dissented. "I know that you've been starting rumors to everyone that 'Marco's going through a phase', or 'Marco's afflicted by a spell', or my personal favorite-… 'Marco is bat-shit crazy'!" He looked around at them, not caring if he was disrespecting them or not; he was only repeating what he'd heard. "I didn't want to destroy the Wellspring when I heard what it really was. I know that magic's important to some people… hell, maybe even everyone!"

"Then why are you acting like such a drama-queen?" Hekapoo asked boredly. "Doesn't that mean that you agree with us? It means that this whole fiasco was unnecessary."

I know that it's important!" Marco shouted in general as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I wanted to at least raise awareness! To warn people to stop abusing it! Even if it meant they could use it to portal every once in a while or to stop flare-ups of violence!" He turned to Hekapoo suddenly, who flinched when she noticed that the crescents on his cheeks were starting to glow in tandem with his anger. "Hekapoo, you hated the fact that I was abusing your scissors the first time we met! Isn't that the same as now? This is just pure hypocrisy."

"You were opening a bunch of portals from your bed. It's like you forgot that you had legs," she defended. "This is different."

"No, it's not! Furthermore, Star's using her wand every two seconds just as she pleases! I don't see anyone griping about it!"

"Don't drag my daughter into this, Diaz." Moon warned, her brows knitting together in a harsh frown. "It's her birthright, and she's entitled to it."

"And I'm entitled to MY opinion, and my beliefs." Marco's voice grew quiet, now fully realizing the stakes as the wheels of development were set in motion. "I wanted to believe that everyone would heed what I had to say. I'm not trying to create a rift. The stability of the dimensions relies on the magic to avoid being destroyed, not because someone says so, or wants it to be like that. Instead, you all want to keep using it. Appendaxuz warned that this would happen! If that's the case, then I really only have one option! I'll destroy the Wellspring, and **remove** the siphon…!"

"The Wellspring distributes the magic throughout the dimensions and powers EVERYTHING!" Omnitraxus roared as he got up from his gigantic seat. "It's our lifeblood and everything we stand for! Everything and EVERYONE COULD DIE, least of all, us! Even if we are the only ones who perish, who'd remain to keep the ORDER?!"

"It's just a tool for you to keep authority over everyone else," Marco replied quietly, undaunted by the leviathan that stood before him. "That's the least of my concerns. Besides…" Marco looked around at them all in turn. He wasn't sure where they all stood, but he knew where _he_ did. "What's a handful of lives when a vast majority wouldn't be endangered anymore?"

There was a collective gasp around the room, yet he didn't recoil. "What're you saying, Marco?" Hekapoo asked solemnly. "That we don't matter? That _I_ don't matter?"

"None of us know if you'll be saved from the fallout when I destroy the Wellspring," Marco replied. He wasn't about to let himself be swayed. "I don't know if even **I'll** survive, and I don't care. Someone will have to destroy the Wellspring, and _**I WILL**_."

"Then this is the equivalent of a declaration of war?" Rhombulus asked mostly to himself, yet Marco made his rejoinder.

"It's not an equivalent. It _**is**_ a declaration of war. We're not siding with one another. We're siding _**against**_ one another." In all honesty, Marco felt that deep down, _**deep**_ down, he was appalled at what he was saying. He decided that it was only his hesitance, and he quashed it. Omnitraxus's eyes narrowed nearly to slits as he glared at Marco; recognizing the look that his fellow divinity usually had before he banished immorals in the far reaches of space, Rhombulus got up and tried to pull Marco away.

"Um… Marco. You'd better go before he-"

"I don't CARE! Get your hands off me!" The teen's anger spiked again to unprecedented levels; if they hadn't already noticed that his crescents became luminous with his emotions earlier, they did now. "Take your hands OFF me, Rhombulus!" He tried to ease out of his grasp, but to no avail.

"Take it easy, Marco, you're making Omnitraxus angry-"

"I said to take your FUCKING snake-hands **OFF OF** _ **ME**_ **!** " the teen bellowed at the top of his lungs. Marco found his bearings and ripped himself out of Rhombulus's grasp with excessive force, sending his oppressor tumbling away when he lost his balance. Shocked at the boy's outburst, they all gaped at his change in character. "Just stay away from me." His eyes were stark with fury as he glared at them all with darkened eyes. "I'm not staying one more second in this castle! I'll head out on my own!"

Queen Moon tried to regain her composure but found that she could not completely. "I believe that would be for the best. Hekapoo… give him a portal back to Earth."

"Wait…" Marco recoiled in shock. "I meant _outside the castle._ Not… Earth…" Marco whispered weakly as the demigoddess approached him to create the portal. His mind slowed as he, too late, thought of the consequences that'd finally caught up with him. He was being sent home in disgrace. He thought of how his return to Mewni-… even back to the time when Toffee threatened to destroy the Mewman standards and society…-had essentially screwed over his life. There were a few he thought to be redeemable in his eyes… Higgs mostly, Kelly, even Hekapoo herself to some extent. Buff Frog had also believed that he was in the right. They all paled to the staggering amount of cons that was everyone and everything else. Bias and stigmatism for his status, being hung-over for Star and ridiculed for his undertaking and preachings.

Appendaxuz was right from the very beginning. It'd been only a matter of time.

"Earth?" Marco asked as if to himself as he watched Hekapoo open up a portal with her scissors, knowing that he'd be stranded there. He did not even have his own dimensional scissors with him, and his mission would be forfeit without them. Yet… he did not care. "Home?" he spat venomously as he thought of how his departure would take place without any sort of ceremony, no goodbyes; was this actually what he wanted? " **Home**? To leave all of you to your pompous authority? _Gladly_."

Without even a backward glance, he stepped through the portal and emerged on the other side. Hekapoo's head poked out after him, only to see him standing in the center of the hollow space in the house where his room used to be. "Marco? Are you alright?"

Marco did not turn to regard her. She came to accept that things and people had changed; he was yet only one of those that did. It depressed her all of a sudden and could only ponder when and where things had gone south. She didn't know, but she knew that the meeting they'd just had was the largest catalyst. "I know that _you've_ said some things out of anger," she said quietly, reminiscent of their conversation earlier in his room on Mewni.

"But we **both** know that they were justified." He finished in the same tone. He turned to her slowly; the Vulcan scissor-maker noticed that the crescents on his cheeks were no longer glowing. He'd calmed down, yet the archaic white lines in them had turned black somewhere along the course of events. Even more scandalous was that his chocolate-brown eyes had also visibly changed-… the irides had become a poisonous-looking shade of green, and never before had she felt so unsettled.

"Goodbye, Marco." With that said, she withdrew back into the portal and closed it, leaving him alone. He gazed about the room, observing how empty it was. His bedroom had been removed from Earth and transferred to the castle. It symbolized him, in a sense, he realized. He'd compromised and left behind all he had to return to Mewni. Now, he'd been sacked and sent back to earth without _anything_ for his own. He'd compromised himself twice and now, he had nothing.

Not even his scissors; they'd been the equivalent of a limb to him and worth _years of his life_. They were left behind on Mewni, back in his room. His task would suffer a hefty setback without them, but he knew that no matter what, he'd accomplish it nonetheless.

He didn't have any foolish ideals. He wasn't of the impression that he had hit rock-bottom and could 'only go up from there'. He didn't believe that he now had everything to gain. He had nothing. Nothing to hope to gain. Nothing more to lose. _Nothing_.

A sole tear formed in Marco's eyes, but he swiped at it angrily, furious at his slip of momentary weakness. His nerves steeled and his expression hardened as Appendaxuz whispered to him about the true nature of his reality.

 _He had absolutely_ _ **nothing**_ _to hold him back anymore._

* * *

 **-Well… that just happened. About time I settled into the swing of things. It's the events of that will follow this that inspired me to first put 'Evil Marco' as a tag. I guess I'll be able to change it back soon.**

 **-So… 7K. It feels kinda bulky, but it went by so fast. A pity about some of the dialogue content though, but that's sure to happen when a group of people are talking. If I had abused the usage of supporting content, it would've made it dull.**

 **-I reckon that this is now officially an AU fic. The rating is now 'M', and people will not simply fall off cliffs or die off-screen, like Disney's usual shtick. Hint-hint.**

 **I reckon that's it. See y'all next week. Hopefully. Net Neutrality went down the toilet yesterday, so I don't know what the hell could and will happen.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	7. Yester

**Vestiges**

 **Well, I'm back. Enjoy the chapter. Oh… the 7k word count from last time… Consider that a record for this fic, and I don't intend to break it again anytime soon.**

 **7.**

" _Things and times change, Star, and people do as well. It's best for you to move on."_

" _But Mom-"_

" _You have the rest of your life ahead of you. I don't mean to sound callous, but it's for the best that everyone went their separate ways. It is rather regrettable but Marco has his own life to live, and you have yours."_

" _He's my best friend, Mom!" she protested in fervor, "And I'm not going to just forget about him!" Moon acknowledged this in her daughter, moving on to choose her next words carefully._

" _I'm not asking you to forget about him. I'm asking you to move on."_

" _Is this about what happened yesterday? Did you just send him away? You haven't even told me why he_ _ **left**_ _!" She couldn't even come to believe that Marco had already departed from the castle. To be sure, it wouldn't have happened anything like his first exit, but the last thing she wanted was to burn her bridges. "I'm not going to allow our last words to just be an argument about using magic. It's all just some gigantic misunderstanding! There was this voice thing here, and a sandwich thing there, and it was all just super hectic for a while. If we just talked it out, you'd see how everything would be just laughable in hindsight-"_

" _Star. Let… it…_ _ **go**_ _." The Queen was nearing the limits of her patience, and her daughter had been dragging out her protests for several hours. Star, from ever since, had taken more after her father. A little ignorant of how things worked, more than just a bit brash and very stubborn. She could very well keep up her complaints for the next year if she felt like it._

 _Apparently, she felt like it._

" _If you must know, the rest of us hold varying degrees of resentment for Marco for what he's said and done, particularly during the meeting we had yesterday. The feelings he has for us is the exact same." The Queen's eyes narrowed. "He's no longer a 'friend', Star. He's not even in a position of neutrality. He's personally declared himself an enemy, Star, and he's made it clear that he not only wants nothing to do with us but he outright hates us because of our practices, and our beliefs. The very least we could and_ _ **should**_ _do is to send him back to his home. He was unhappy here, and I thought it'd be best to re-induct him back into his own culture. That is, one that doesn't revolve around magic."_

" _Well… I guess the last part's true," Star admitted unwillingly as she picked at a loose thread in her dress, "but… he's my best friend. I admit that it sounds serious, but you just sent him away because we were having a disagreement? When we disagreed on Earth, we resolved them on our own without anyone trying to make decisions for us! It's just like banishment! And… I didn't even to say goodbye…"_

" _I don't believe he had any interest in saying any parting words, Star. All he had to say were rebukes. I've tried to be understanding for his cause, as he did for us. But the more zealous of us recognize him as a threat, and he_ _ **does**_ _present one as long as he's here_ _ **.**_ _The last thing I'd want is for such a person to be in close proximity to my own daughter and her birthright. In his own mind and opinion, he now believes that magic is despicable, and how to do you think he feels about you and the Butterfly Wand? Hmm?"_

The Butterfly looked down at her wand with a frown, staring at the star that rested at its center. The months had dragged on by since then, though they did little for her tolerance. Sure, she and Marco had known each other for more than a year, and she'd lived her own life for far longer without him in it. She'd become a part of his life, as much he'd become a part of hers. She could try to move on with her life without him and she had. What she could not, however, was to simply forget all of their shared memories together. To discard them as if they held no meaning, no significance.

Her abhorrence of this fact was further increased by the goings-on in the castle. Everything was too… _normal_.She could accept that life went on, regardless of whether Marco was there or not. His lack of a presence did not warrant a stoppage of everyone's schedule, responsibilities, and concurrency. It was almost to the point that anyone could believe that he had never existed as even the mere mentioning of his name was taboo. Of course, there were a few people who protested his exodus as much as Star did: Kelly and Buff Frog to name a few. Hekapoo was marginally unexpected and Higgs was even more so, not to mention the most fervid. If someone who'd more than merely disliked Marco in the past had badly wanted Marco to stay, then what could have been a good enough reason for Marco to leave?

Star didn't know.

She walked around her room, absentmindedly feeling this and that. She was still locked in the nostalgia in her earlier memories of the Diaz, trying to use them to gloss over the unpleasant latter ones. There had been sweet memories and bitter ones, not to mention those in between. But there were no recollections that were as detested as those when he wasn't around.

Perhaps Tom was right. Had she'd been really been that hung over Marco's leaving? It was not by self-punishment, but rather by being contrite. Nonetheless, there was nothing wrong in yearning for a friend. Her best friend.

Absence truly made the heart grow fonder.

How long had it been?

* * *

How long had it been?

Absence truly made the heart grow detached.

The school bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. It was akin to a racer's shot, as many of the students cleared the room as quickly as they could, some tripping over others while a few made a mad dash right through desks and chairs. By the time Ms. Skullnick was about to make her announcement for homework, only Marco and Jackie remained.

"Oh geez. I've got to start giving out homework earlier on Fridays." It was typical behavior for the class to leave as quickly as possible to avoid hearing about possible assignments in the same way that it was normal for the Diaz to remain behind.

He had his reasons.

"I'll listen for the homework assignment. I need the extra credit, don't I?"

"You've caught up, Marco." The troll of a woman said matter-of-factly as she waved at the open door. "You're on the same grade level as the rest of the class since last week's test. If you wanna run like the rest of those hooligans, then be my guest. I'll just double the homework come Monday, like the usual."

"I'll take the homework now then," Marco remarked as he approached her table. "Better now than later, right?"

"…" Ms. Skullnick raised an eyebrow whilst regarding at the Diaz. "If I may, you used to be a model student. Then that _Star_ girl came along…" Seeing movement behind Marco, she spied Jackie giving her the cut-off sign, hinting to her that the subject of Star was touchy around the teen. Ms. Skullnick shook her head at the cue and turned back to Marco, whose expression had darkened, although only a little. "When Star came along, it was weird shenanigans every day. Then you gallivanted off to who-knows-where for half of the school year, only to come back in January as if nothing had happened. You've gotten so _weird_ that you've done a complete 360' to becoming normal."

"'Normal'? Thanks for the compliment." Marco looked at the woman who, even whilst sitting, was nearly as tall as he was. "I suppose that you being a _**troll**_ has become the norm." The insult was superbly honey-coated in a light tone, although the woman could tell because Marco didn't have the countenance for it.

"That's a backhanded insult, Diaz."

"And I don't have any time to waste." He looked down at her open planner and saw the arrangements for the weekend homework and memorized it. Stepping back, he gave her a nod. "Enjoy the rest of your weekend ma'am." With that said, he exited the room, slamming the door as he left. The glass in the upper-half smashed far too easily, and the cheap lever doorknob came off in his hands on the other side. Ms. Skullnick didn't even flinch as she watched the bits and shards of glass tinkle to the floor before she turned to Jackie.

"That's the third damn door this _month_ , and it's only the fifteenth."

"He must be in a good mood," Jackie said quietly. "The last time someone mentioned Star to him, it took half-a-dozen football jocks to hold him back from attacking Starfan13 just last week. It's almost like a trigger topic for him."

"Jackie-Lynn Thomas, do you not know what I am?" the teacher asked in a casual boast as she gestured to herself, indicating her advanced physiology by being a troll.

"…Lucky?" Jackie deadpanned. The teacher only sighed in response before she started to gather her things.

"The boy's changed. All we can really do at this point is keep sending the bills to his parents whenever he breaks something or other. In the meantime, haven't any of you tried to talk to him? Peer to peer? Someone had better get to the root of his issues before he ends up doing something he'll regret."

"We've… made attempts, I guess," Jackie admitted demurely, "but he's not talking to anyone. It's almost as if he thinks we're all dead to him. Ever since he came back from Mewni, he's been like this. I don't know if he's the one that changed, or they're the ones that changed him. He has these new marks on his cheeks, these green _crescents_ , and his eyes changed too."

"From brown to green? I've been wondering about that me'self."

Jackie didn't continue the line. She wasn't thinking of a petty change as in the case of his eye color, but rather something more existential. If the eyes really were the 'windows to the soul', then Marco had a _dark_ one. They reflected little emotion excepting the occasional outburst or tantrum for anything magic-related, even trivial things such as conversational topics. He was nearly at the self-ostracization level as when he was last summer when he returned from Mewni. Jackie held no delusions that there wasn't some sort of bad influence from that dimension, she couldn't help but ponder on what it was and why it came to be.

"I tell you, this has to be the most problematic class I've ever taught."

Jackie didn't reply to the woman as she made her way out through the broken door. She had her rising fears and foolishly cultivated hopes of a resolution, but she was nonetheless determined at getting to the truth and the root of the issue.

One way or another.

…

" _ **You need to better control your emotions."**_

'That's my problem. But don't worry, I work on it. I've been meditating more, haven't I? What's the good it's done for me? Theta, right? It basically means that I've gotten better at keeping my shit together.'

" _ **Judging from the door, it obviously needs more work. I recommend taking a break from working on Alpha to work on Theta. While strength is necessary, it lacks any real impact when you lose control of yourself at the drop of a hat,"**_ Appendaxuz said wisely. _**"Not to mention, other areas need to be buffered. You wouldn't want to be like the woman-knight. What was her name? Lady Whosits? Do you want to be purely dumb muscle?**_ "

Marco looked down at his exposed arms. They were impressive at this point; due to his wiry frame, his muscles had built in a lean fashion without too many bulges in the sleeves of his green t-shirt. He'd defaulted to this clothing option due to the rising heat of the June weather, and was far more comfortable whenever he trained. If there was any other benefit to this, it served as a repellant to any physical bully at school, in case his reputation wasn't enough to deter them.

The shirt also reminded him of how long it'd been.

Appendaxuz, ever the empath to the boy's inner feelings, tried to console him. _**"You've come a long way. You've become faster, stronger, smarter and you no longer lack conviction. There is yet room for improvement, but for today, you should get some rest. Proper respite is also crucial in furthering yourself, and meditation is a good way in doing so. You would sufficiently kill two birds with one stone, no? In the meantime, I shall try to forge on your Delta to improve your resistance and longevity."**_

"It's not just that. I'm grateful for giving me the incentives to improve and all. I just can't stand to know that they're all up in Mewni abusing magic and making things worse while I'm going to ROT down here!" Marco yelled at the top of his lungs in anger, drawing the attention of the passers-by in the street. He ignored them all, not heeding whether they thought he was getting barmy or not.

" _ **Keep this conversation in your mind, Marco. You didn't spend all of this time learning to elevate your mind to the degree of communicating with me at leisure only to make yourself look foolish**_ **,** _ **"**_ the entity deep in his mind chastised. _**"But you need not fret. We WILL get back to Mewni, and the Wellspring will be toppled. While having your dimensional scissors would be a boon at this point, it'd only cause the enemy to overestimate you and squash your attempts with all of their efforts. Like this, you are underestimated because they believe that you've been dealt with. The chance to create a portal will come. Someone will make a slip, and you'll be there to capitalize on it."**_

"Yes. I will."

" _ **Are you prepared to shed blood?"**_

"… I am…"

Deep in the boy's psyche, Appendaxuz grinned widely. It'd been a full six months since his influence had begun to take its toll on the boy's character. As suspected, he was fully prepared to hurt, to injure, _even kill_ , if it meant that it would help to further his goals. Marco had actually lasted a lot longer than his other pawns, but being away from the inductions and persuasions from those one Mewni had been a large benefit, despite the few glaring cons. He'd much rather prefer to have a serious and developed pawn and have his plans set back even by years, rather than to have a semi-decent one and have his plans botched permanently. Marco was his very last and remaining chance to destroy the Wellspring. It'd been an eternity since he first formed this campaign, and he'd see it through.

Marco would be sure to agree. Not only because of his presence in the boy's consciousness but because of the boy's fervor and passion.

"Oh no."

Appendaxuz's head rose up to regard this. _**"What's the problem?"**_

"It's a mugger," Marco moaned under his breath, mostly out of annoyance rather than fear. He looked over the scruffy-looking man, observing the fact that he was a full head taller than him and armed with a switchblade. Noticing that the man's clothing was an obvious indication of his poverty-stricken state, Marco decided to let him off with a warning. "Hey… um… buddy, step aside. You don't wanna try to rob me-"

"Gimme everything you have before I cut your throat," the mugger menaced as he brandished the knife. Marco felt his blood start to boil, but nonetheless took out a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and dropped it into the man's outstretched free hand. "Where's the rest of it?! And your phone!"

"Don't push your luck," Marco growled before he sidestepped the man to walk past him. As soon as he did, he felt the burn of the knife cut into his arm. With red already running down his limb, Marco lost himself. On reflex, Marco was already ducking the gloating man's next slash and smashed his fist into the man's gut as he did, knocking the wind out of him.

The mugger was already on the ropes, heaving for breath but Marco didn't belay; he continued his reaction by grabbing the back of the man's head and bringing it down into a rising knee, breaking his nose. Ignoring the blood spatter on his pants, Marco held up the man by his collar and began to hail his right fist into the man's jaw, breaking it as if it were glass and kept going.

"You… Son…! Of…! A…! Bitch! Robber, huh?!" Marco punctuated each word with a punch to the man's face, already mashing it nearly to the appearance and texture of poorly chopped meat. The man's blood was already coating Marco's fist as much as his own face; the mugger had already passed out from the pain, but Marco hardly even cared in his frenzied state. Deep inside, Appendaxuz continued his experimentations to toy with how far he could inveigle the boy's anger, and he wasn't disappointed as he discerned that Marco was even now smashing the man's head against the brick side wall of the alley. Repeatedly.

In fact, Marco went on to beat the man half to death, injuring here and breaking a bone there. By the time all was said and done, the man lied in a stew of his own bodily fluids he'd lost control of, not to mention his spilled blood. Marco shook his head before pulling out his last bill and dropped the dollar on the man's bloodied body. "That's all I had. Twenty- **one** dollars. Hope it was _worth_ it."

The unconscious man said nothing. Yet, he was answered.

"Was it worth it, Marco?"

Marco looked behind him wildly to see Jackie, who was horrified. He easily guessed that she'd seen him in the act, although for the last few moments. He turned his back on her; she wasn't any lord of his and she wasn't obligated to get an answer only to assuage her curiosities and denials. If he wanted to say anything about it, he'd merely bullshit her with a 'self-defense' reason since the man drew first blood, but it was obvious that she wouldn't accept anything of the sort. He did the only thing he could.

He walked away, with nary a backward glance.

She, on the other hand, had chanced on this route to get to Marco's house, only to find the Diaz bloodying himself in the one-sided fight. It was nothing short of nightmarish and madly out of character for him, and yet there he was.

She'd meant to ask questions… what, where, how and why. She'd come to try to find him to garner the truth behind his change in personality and aspirations, and yet all of those questions seemingly melted away as she watched him walk away. _Who_ was this person?

"You're not Marco."

He didn't answer.

* * *

 **(Reads over chapter.) Mm-hmm… seems about right. It only went to show how the two sides felt about each other and stood, with some** _ **very tiny**_ **Jackie interaction with our protagonist.**

 **Sorry about the tardy update, people. T'was the week before Christmas, and all through the house…**

 **Paint. Paint** _ **everywhere.**_ **(Looks down at paint-riddled body.) EVERYWHERE!**

 **The chapter was small. Oh well. Not much I could add to it in this chapter, but next chapter I should start fleshing out Hekapoo and Higgs some more.**

 **Happy Holidays. Merry ChrisKwanzHanuka when it comes. I should be able to make another update by New Years.**

 **M. Ray 4 The Win.**


	8. Yearn

**Vestiges**

 **Hope you've all enjoyed making merry for the holidays. Welcome back.**

 **Suffice to say, reading over the previous chapter, I'm a bit displeased with it although it's been well received by some. I essentially wrecked my plans to keeping his development slow, but there's not much I can do about it now. I'm going to tide over that change in this chapter, rather than take down chapter seven completely and replace it. After all, this is an 'Evil' Marco fic, so he was going to get to this point anyway. I'm just glad that there was a decent enough time-skip before he did this.**

 **But yes, people I almost spelled out why he's been having those anger-episodes, on why he's so out-of-character.**

 **I wrote that he's been on earth for six months; he'd been on earth from (early) January to June. Time to look at a few characters with a magnifying glass for a bit.**

 **8.**

"After that, he just walked away."

Janna didn't react, leastwise, not verbally. The look on her face, however, reflected a horrid fascination, and Jackie couldn't help but wonder why. Was she _intrigued_ by this?

"He just walked away, Janna, as if he didn't even care about what he did! It's like he was just kicking something out of his way without even paying it a second mind. In the end, I just called the cops, and they sent an ambulance for the guy. I've never before seen an ambulance drive so fast just to get someone to the _hospital_."

"It was _that_ bad?"

"Janna, I swear…" Jackie tried to steady her nerves by taking deep breaths. "Marco beat the guy almost to death. Maybe he would've done it if I hadn't come along. The police even asked me if I saw who nearly killed the mugger. It was **that** serious! I just told them that I found the guy like that."

Janna could see that the normally settled teen was rapidly becoming disheveled and tried to picture the scene in her head, only for the sake of not asking Jackie to describe it. She herself wanted to glean all the information she could before Jackie could incur some sort of P.T.S.D., that is if she hadn't already. "I believe you, and you did the right thing telling the cops. I don't think we'd want him to end up in jail, or even worry his parents. Geez, it's like every time he comes back from Mewni, he starts to act in some bizarre way."

"I know, right? I prefer the time when he wore the cape than how he's acting now. At least back then, no one had to worry about getting hurt whenever he gets angry. You've been to Mewni, right? Don't you know what happened?"

"I already told you about what happened on Stump Day. He came in with Star's birthday gifts as if he just walked out of a war-zone. She didn't really accept his gifts-"

"So that's why he's angry at Star?" Jackie interrupted as she thought about his most common trigger-topic. "Is that why he freaks out whenever someone mentions anything about her? But she's his best friend-"

"You're not listening; I mentioned that he was looking like he fought some kind of a one-day war. He was already acting super strange before _and_ when he came to the birthday party. That's why I don't think it's about Star, or at least not _entirely_ about her," Janna reasoned. "But it's my guess that she and her family must've kicked him out, 'cause he didn't come back with anything that I could see when I snuck into his room a few months ago. Maybe they got fed up with him or something."

"Easy to see why. It's like I don't know him anymore. It might as well be a complete stranger wearing his face." Jackie's frown marred her features as she slumped against the foot of Janna's bed. "It was scary, you know? To see him like that."

Janna became thoughtful as she considered this and all the other times she'd seen Marco lose control of his emotions. "I've been keeping tabs on him."

"When have you _not_?"

Janna shrugged as if she didn't care. "Point taken. But the thing is, after the first few times, I started to notice things about Marco whenever he gets pissed. You know what a mood ring is, right?"

"One of those rings that people claim change color based on how they felt?"

"Exactly." Janna leaned back in her chair in an effort to get comfortable as she readied herself to spill her theories and observations. "I've noticed how the crescents on his cheeks look like they're glowing when he's about to go overboard. Even the tiny black lines in 'em look like they're pulsing."

The Thomas scratched her head as she thought back to what she'd seen on the day before. "Hmm…" Throughout all of her haphazard recollections, she tried to focus on any memories she had of his face whenever he got angry. While she couldn't admit that she saw the crescents glowing, she could acknowledge that they seemed to stand out more profoundly on his face in these instances, even during the occurrence yesterday. "I can't believe that I didn't notice anything that before until you mentioned it. But I wouldn't really call it 'glowing'. Maybe it's because I wasn't looking out for it, so I can't say for sure."

"Well, they do. Anyway, those marks must've gotten on his face after Stump Day when I wasn't there, but I think they've got something to do with magic if they respond to his feelings. I mean, whenever I think about the hearts on Star's cheeks or the diamonds on her mom's face, I definitely feel like some magic-related is messing with him. It's the only real theory I've got left, 'cause all of the solutions I have about 'earthly' problems aren't adding up. Maybe he's even possessed by a ghost or demon. It's not impossible, right?"

"Possessed?" Jackie looked at Janna as if she'd sprouted a second head. "Are you serious? Ghosts and demons?" She couldn't very well say that she was a believer, although things tended to run bizarre ever since Star first dropped into their lives.

Janna shook her head before reaching for a paddle-ball she kept on her desk and began to play with it. "We're talking about Marco nearly killing a guy. At this point, everything must be possible; am I right or am I _right_?"

"Since it's a magical problem, can't we just call Star to fix him or something?" Jackie was clutching at straws by now-… of course, she was already aware of a negative answer, but Janna wanted to be able to tell her some sort of good news. These had been a trying six months, and judging from what Jackie had informed her, things had gone from bad to worse as far as Marco was concerned. Over time, the distance between him and his friends had formed but instantly, and grew seemingly larger by the day. The more they tried to reach out to him, both friends and family, the more he shut them out. Most of his answers were condescending and were short and curt at best. Most of his time was spent privately, either in some sort of physical training as he's taken to in recent times or in meditative exercises.

Marco wasn't exactly popular in the school largely due to his 'safe-kid' status, and it would have been marginally expected if he had tried to salvage all the bonds he had. Sadly, he had no intention of doing so, and they'd all been ousted out of his life. By this point, Janna was nearly of the idea that Marco was only content with being by himself and only lived in his parent's house simply because he was a minor. The only way for the reverse to happen, apparently, was if the person who was interested in Marco's welfare avoided anything tantamount to the topic of Star and magic. In other words, avoid infuriating him, and you stayed on his good side.

But in all things considered, Janna didn't care if she stayed on his good side or not; she was only interested in sorting the Diaz out. It had been puzzling-… her only line to get to the solution of what she thought was the problem, Star Butterfly that is, was cut off especially since Marco was not in possession of his scissors. This was scandalous in and of itself, and as she told Jackie before, Marco had returned to Earth with absolutely nothing; not even his room was where it used to be. She didn't know if this was willingly or accidental, but it wasn't serving their cause any good. Something was wrong with Marco, something magic-related to be sure. But they had no way of arriving at a treatment, not unless someone from Mewni (preferably Star) contacted them from her end.

That's all she'd done until now. That's what they had all done. Sit, wait and hope.

It made her feel useless.

Janna shook her head. As for how things were going now, both Jackie and herself were the only ones who still believed, who still looked forward to seeing the Marco they'd come to know and appreciate. Their reasons were varied, yet still the same. This new Marco was unwelcome in their lives, and they desired the original-… if anything could be said as clear-cut as that.

But Jackie was apparently giving up. Perhaps now, Janna realized, that she herself was the last. She was the only one who still believed that the original Marco was still there, like a rose amidst a pile of garbage. He was still there, wasn't he?

"We can't call Star from here. She'll have to be the one to contact us, even though it's kinda strange that she hasn't even checked up on anyone by calling 'till now. All we can really do is to just try to hold out until she calls-… if she ever does. It's either that, or we can just stop chickening out and confront Marco on his behavior ourselves."

"So… what? Do we keep hoping that things get better? That he won't get any worse?"

"Look, Marco is-"

"That's **not** Marco. Not anymore."

It came with sharp finality as if Jackie was stating a fact. Janna's eyes narrowed as she felt her annoyance spike in response.

"Get off your damn high horse."

Jackie's eyed widened in surprise. "Huh?"

"That's still Marco." The Ordonia got up out of her seat and threw open her windows, allowing some brighter light inside the dim room. Pointing out in the distance up the road, she gestured at Marco's house. "He's always been Marco, and he's never been perfect. He's not above making bad decisions, just like the rest of us. Jackie, I know that you've been cheating off of Alphonso's tests whenever you feel like you don't know enough to pass," she accused simply, ignoring Jackie's shocked expression of having been found out. "And me? I'm a damn kleptomaniac, and I'll be lucky to get through high school without anyone trying to send me to juvie. Marco's going through changes, we can see that… we _know_ that. But are we just going to sit here and _bitch_ about how he's acting up, or are we gonna do something about it?"

Jackie didn't answer. In a huff, Janna stomped over to her door and grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door open.

"You coming?"

"…"

"Should've figured that you wouldn't. You can just sit around and cling to whatever kinds of fantasies you have of him in your head. Keep your memories of him." Janna cut her eyes at the teen in exasperation as she started to walk through the door. Jackie remained silent as she contemplated whether or not any good would come from challenging Marco on his newfound mentality and felt disgusted at her own hesitation. There was no easing to be found from Janna, as she was bold and unforgiving in her rebuke. It only served to make Jackie feel smaller and self-doubting, not to mention guilty, as she knew that the punk had hit the nail right on the head. "Jackie… You'd better not be here when I get back."

"Wait…"

Janna stopped in her tracks, held in place by the small, profound word.

"What is it?" The punk teen looked back just in time to see Jackie rise to her feet, with a clearly apprehensive look on her face. No doubt, she was anxious, but the dregs of whatever confidence she used to have did wonders for her conviction.

"…I'm coming."

* * *

In a small bedroom, a fiery portal opened, out of which two figures stepped out of. Hekapoo looked about carefully as she adjusted her burden slumped with an arm over-around her neck before accepting that the room was completely clear of any prying eyes. With that done, she approached the bed and dropped an unconscious Higgs into it unceremoniously before plopping herself into the chair at the bedside. As development would indicate, Higgs began to stir and soon opened her eyes, only to moan as soon as she realized that she was looking up at her ceiling.

"What the-? Oh, damn." Higgs tried to lean up but found that she could hardly even muster up the strength to. "How long did I last this time…?"

"Better than last time. You lasted for six years and managed to blow out twenty-six flames of my clones," Hekapoo informed simply. "Kinda far behind the progress record, if you ask me. Honestly, if it were any less than that, and it would have been a waste of _my_ time."

Higgs groaned in frustration. "I can do this!" With a sullen look, Hekapoo shook her head as she prepared herself to dash the squire's hopes.

"You _can't_ do this. This was your eighth try, and all of your years are racking up in my dimension. When you collapsed, it was obvious that you're burnt out. Both physically **and** mentally. You're more than likely to end up brain-dead on your next attempt rather than completing the task. Even if you managed to earn them, what's to stop you from suffering a horrible mental backlash when you return to Mewni, hmm?"

In response to this, Higgs strained to raise her upper torso to stare Hekapoo dead in the eyes. "I'm gonna _earn_ my scissors."

"Are you even hearing me-"

"I'm… going… to… earn… my… scissors." Every word was said with the utmost credo and self-belief, letting the demigoddess know that the squire wasn't ready to give up, perhaps never. But the fact still remained-… she was unable to earn her scissors, not for lack of will, for she had that in heaps. What she lacked, however, was the faculty, skill, and resourcefulness to complete the herculean objective. Marco, while starting out in a similar area of development as she did, had snuffed out hundreds of clones in record time, and Higgs found it hard to vanquish the minimum of a full hundred.

"Look, Higgs. I sympathize with you and all, but you can't even blow out a hundred flames, and the only workaround is if you blow out _my_ flame instead. I can't make it any easier for you, or the others in the Magic High Commission would only see it as me playing buddy-buddy and giving handouts. I'm already looking bad enough as it is."

"I know that." Higgs looked away, not wanting the divinity to see that she was close to tears. The strain and repercussions of trying to accomplish what felt like a hopeless task was catching up with her. Every part of her ached, but nothing hurt worse than her deep disappointment. "I'll just try again."

"And in my good consciences, I can't consent to another one of your attempts."

"What…? I can-"

"No." The word was final and ultimate; and it served to remind Higgs that she wasn't talking to a friendly associate, but rather a full-fledged demigoddess of the M.H.C. "No, you can't. Another attempt is the same as committing suicide. Given the requirements to actually get through that scrum and live, you'd have to blow out my flame within a year at the most. That's next to impossible, and truth be told, it's next to impossible for people more _capable_ than you. No offense meant, I'm just stating facts."

Higgs covered her face with her hands, trying to hide her crestfallen look. "But I want… no, I _need_ dimensional scissors."

"You don't," Hekapoo remarked as smoothly as silk, "you just want to see Marco. The scissors are just a tool to make that happen. After _that_ , the scissors would only pad your ego. But let's face it. You two aren't the same, and you're not able to accomplish the same things. He's good at some things, you're good at other things. Beating my challenge, however, is **not** one of them."

"How could he do it, and I can't?" Higgs argued. "I mean, I've been a squire for years, and I'll soon be eligible to be knighted. I'm fit, I can fight, and I can _think_. What made him so special that he could earn his scissors and I can't? Some stupid crap like destiny?"

"I dunno. People just aren't made the same, nor do they think the same," Hekapoo pontificated. "It doesn't matter. You can't, and that's that. Listen… if it means that much to you, I could open up a portal to Earth. Just for appearance's sake, I myself can't go there. But doesn't mean I can't toss you a bone, right?"

"Wouldn't you get into trouble?" Higgs asked out of curiosity, surprised that the Vulcan scissor-maker would go that far for her.

"I would get into trouble… if I get caught."

Both the squire and the divinity shared a look, one of empathetic and kindred understanding. Soon, to Hekapoo's surprise, Higgs declined.

"I'd prefer to get there on my own steam. Besides, I've seen Omnitraxus and the others, and they're kinda stern. I wouldn't want them to start cussin' ya if they found out. They're already giving you a hard time as it is, just like you've said before."

"I can handle it. I don't need you to worry about me. It's not like they're my dad or anything." Hekapoo smirked impishly. "On the other hand, I'd start thinking about why you want to see Marco so badly. Attachment issues? More-than-just-a-friend? Or… a _crush_ -"

"Let me stop you right there." Higgs held up her hands in objection, waving them wildly. "Not a boyfriend… not at all. I don't _like_ him. At least, not like **that**."

"Is that why you've been trying so hard to earn your scissors? Just to see an old face? Kinda far-fetched, if you ask me."

"Well, I'm TELLING you that there's nothing between us." With her piece said, Higgs allowed her head to hit the pillows. Hekapoo wouldn't allow her to have the final word, though.

"I know. But I can see it. There's nothing between the two of you. But you _want_ something to be." Higgs didn't rise to reply; instead, she finally allowed her sheer fatigue to lull her into slumber. Now alone by way of wakefulness, Hekapoo was left to her thoughts as she studied the squire. At first, she'd thought that it was strange that a seemingly random person could be so fervent in her defense of Marco and truth be told, she thought that it still was. The squire before her was probably an orphan from the common stock of Mewni and due to a large caseload of responsibilities, had little time for friends. Her time of friendship with Marco had only spanned a few months. This was actually brief but as is usually the case, homely and plain individuals tended to cling to whoever gave them enough time and attention. At an early point, Higgs had already latched on to the Diaz-… be it whatever aspect of him…- and already became _keen_ on him without even realizing it. Certainly not love, but she was already more than a little fond of Marco.

Hekapoo had always prided herself on her knowledge of sociology; interactions, relationships and mentality patterns. In fact, she considered it almost as important as her job of being the Dimensional-Scissor Forger for the multiverse. Simply put, someone had to be, when all of her colleagues were about as socially adept as rocks. They were too-literal beings, and Hekapoo's office demanded that she be able to screen those who'd be capable of earning and wielding dimensional scissors. Nay, in all these things, she couldn't help but present herself in a mirror and observed whether or not why she'd even bond with Higgs over _Marco_. Of course, she still had misgivings over what was (in all intents and purposes) his banishment, but that would mean that she held her opinions of him higher than that of the rest of the M.H.C.

What would drive her to that point?

Thinking back to the histories that she and Marco shared, Hekapoo could see that she amalgamated and meshed with him well, even more so than anyone else in all of her millennia. He wasn't one of a kind, that was sure; other people shared qualities like him. Some had the drive, some had good-enough looks, others had considerate outlooks and yet another few held appeal, just like he did. There wasn't anything to really ruminate on.

Then why was he still on her mind, even when he wasn't around? Hadn't she moved on? Looking down at Higgs who was weary from her most recent efforts from garnering dimensional scissors, it was in the revelation that Hekapoo realized that she was just like the squire-… she hadn't moved on. In fact, from a certain perspective, she could see that both her and Higgs were far too similar in the same regards. Hekapoo still entreated to the others in the Magical High Commission that they should at least return his things (none moved a positive vote in her favor), she disliked the developing state of affairs and now, she was harboring thoughts of treasonous behavior. That is, to simply give Higgs a pair of scissors secretly, or to portal Marco's things to him.

Who was Marco Diaz that she'd meander away from her core responsibilities?

Nonetheless, whether she was actually devoted to him or just being overprotective, she needed to get herself together. Right… she was an independent-… IS an independent. She had a life, didn't she? She should just live hers and allow Marco to live his.

Who would have known that the scrawny kid she first met abusing her scissors would end up having such a hold on her?

* * *

Marco washed his hands for the umpteenth time, scrubbing at them with the steel wool. It did little for his culpability, and he still believed that he could see blood spatters all over his hands. Deciding to wash them again, he picked up the bar of soap that he'd nearly whittled entirely due to his nervous actions, rubbed it in his hands to produce lather and washed his hands again. Ending a few minutes later, the boy groaned in disgust as he looked at his hands.

"I can still see the blood… why can't I wash them clean…?"

" _ **That's just guilt, Marco. You've been clean since yesterday. It would be fair to mention that I cautioned you. You've been a slave to your emotions, particularly that of frustration."**_

"Frustration?"

" _ **Frustration,"**_ Appendaxuz reaffirmed, _**"which stems from your anger and disappointment of being stranded on Earth with seemingly no way of ever getting back to Mewni, much less to the Wellspring."**_

"…" Marco shakily sat on his mattress as he recalled the happenings of the past six months. "I guess I am miffed about it. But I've kept blowing my cool too much. It's like… adrenaline or something. Every time someone pisses me off, it's like I turn into a miniature version of Hulk-man, from my comics. I mean, I could've knocked out the mugger with a single chop to the neck. Hell, if I wanted to take it a little farther, I would've punched him in the liver and then he'd be too weak to even stand straight for a few minutes. Instead, he probably ended up being sent to an emergency room… why the hell would I take it so **far?**! No… it's not my fault. He's just a deadbeat who tried to rob me… he attacked me first, and I warned him NOT TO!"

" _ **Do not punish yourself, Marco,"**_ the entity consoled, _**"it was he who tried to take that which was not his, and it was he who first drew blood."**_

"But if I could go so far to beat up a mugger…" Marco said lowly in horrible revelation, "then how far am I willing to go if someone actually fights me? How far would I go if the people on Mewni try to kill me? Would I just kill them preemptively?"

Deep inside, Appendaxuz cursed to himself. It was he who had been stage-managing quite a few of Marco's emotions, that of the angst variety, in an effort to ensure that Marco would be able to get through conflicts against those he used to be close to. Affronting enemies, he believed, would be far easier if his host was given to anger against them, rather than any sort of forgiveness and mercy. It would be a great misstep if he hesitated, perhaps, if he fought the Butterfly family and their associates. And what of Star herself? Would Marco allow her to bash him, to knock him around? It was a chance he couldn't take… no, a chance he _refused_ to take. This could very well be his final attempt to destroy the Wellspring, and he wanted every variable in the crusade to be accounted for.

He'd thought of simply removing core aspects from Marco, that is, emotions and memories of the brighter bandwidth of his character. Appendaxuz thought of those as a last resort and unnecessary for the time being. Marco was already holding ill-will for everyone who affronted him on Mewni, and thanks to his change in perspective thinking, Marco had firm belief that that the M.H.C. and the Butterfly family were the roots of iniquity. Marco's passion and drive, coupled with this belief, would be sure to see his campaign through.

The only problem was that of guilt. It was a crippling facet, and it was the one thing that Appendaxuz didn't take into consideration. He had not thought that Marco would suffer from it if he bloodied his hands. It was something that could be solved over time before his container became too unforthcoming and reserved from action.

For now, Marco was already beginning to suffer the effects of a sullied conscience, and he needed to ease it. He was always a logical person, and a well-reasoned explanation could go a long way.

Even if it was false.

" _ **Marco, imagine yourself as a bottle with a narrow neck. Your emotions are inside, and everything that pours forth is a controlled amount which is all you're permitting to show."**_

"Uh-huh. So I have more control when I'm like that, right? But what does that mean-"

" _ **Please allow me to finish,"**_ Appendaxuz interrupted sternly. _**"Since removing your limits for self-augmentation, your inhibitions and your control were also lost, due to the fact that you've been granted a limitless potential. How does one pour a measured amount of water directly from the sea?"**_

Marco was horrified. "Then how the hell can I fix it?"

Appendaxuz knew that the boy couldn't, but it would be crucial for him to believe that he could and that he'd improve his situation. Not to mention that it was the entity himself who would be micromanaging the 'problem'; that is, to rid him of being able to feel guilt and suffer from an overbearing conscience. Entirely.

But Marco didn't need to know this, Appendaxuz thought with a grin.

" _ **More meditation is required. That's all you can do to 'fix' it. Concurrently, I shall endeavor to-"**_

A sudden knock came at the door, interjecting the being's line of speech. With a shrug of resignation, Marco heaved himself from off of his mattress to get up to answer the door. He didn't bother to call out to the newcomer, as he'd thought it was one of his parents. Opening it, however, he discovered that it was someone else.

"Jackie? Janna?" Marco regarded the two with surprise before he jaded quickly. "Why are you here? And _why_ are you in my house?"

"Your mom let us in. Now, we're in your _room._ " Janna stepped forward quickly into his bedroom before he could bar them from entry. "We're not interrupting any kind of _special time_ , are we?"

"Very funny," Marco said sarcastically in response to the masturbation innuendo. "Now get out."

"Nah, nah…" Janna smirked mischievously. "Maybe you should if you're not doing it. You've got some pent-up rage, am I right? After all…" Her smirk fell as she became more serious. "You're starting to take it out on people, and what you did yesterday was extreme. And I don't mean that in the 'cool' way."

"What?" Marco thought back to the mugger and shook ever so slightly. Nonetheless, he decided to plead ignorance, since Janna surely didn't know that he was responsible. It was when he heard his bedroom door close that he turned back to it and saw Jackie standing before it. Damn, he'd forgotten that she was there and that she'd seen him with the mugger the day before. "You're talking about the mugger, right? I did NOT do that. I found him like that when Jackie saw me."

Jackie folded her arms crossly. "…Do you think that I'm blind, Marco? That I'm stupid? I came right at the last and saw you knocking his head into the wall. There was _blood_ all over your hands…!"

Marco held up his arm to show where he'd incurred a long and deep cut. "It was self-defense, a'right? I was defending myself from the mugger."

"Sure looked like you trying to beat him to death, if you asked me. That's not cool, Marco."

"He tried to mug me and I decided to just give him my money. But he started to act tough and he drew first blood," Marco argued harshly. "Can't I defend myself? Hmm?" Seeing them both shake their heads in unison only made him disgusted at their ignorance. "I wonder, Jackie… If I had taken another way home while you took the usual way, what would have happened to you since you would've met up with the criminal? Just let him mug you? Give him everything you have except for the clothes on your back? Maybe let him cut your throat? As far as I see it, that's just one criminal that tried to rob the wrong guy, and he won't be doing it anymore. At least, not for a _long_ time."

"I dunno what would've happened to me if I had bumped into him," Jackie admitted easily. "I could've lost everything I had on me, got hurt, or killed. But that doesn't excuse what you did. Didn't you learn martial arts to defend yourself?"

"He ditched the classes when he came back in January," Janna offered quietly.

"I wasn't learning anything new," Marco defended heatedly. "It was turning into a waste of money and waste of my time."

"The point is that you learned it for self-defense... to _defend_ yourself, not to blow it way out of proportion. You nearly killed the guy in retaliation for what, a few dollars?"

The Diaz looked at the usually laid-back teen as if she'd grown a second head. "You must've grown up _really_ sheltered, haven't you? The guy tried to MUG me!" Marco yelled, "What part of that aren't you getting?!"

Janna tried to placate the two from any more quarrel; she'd begun to notice that the boy's crescents were glowing slightly and given from Jackie's backpedaling away from him, she'd observed it as well. From Jackie's vantage point, having come to know the boy's behavior whenever his mood spiked, didn't welcome the prospect of him turning on her. She'd known that it could happen and only loathed herself for backing down from him. For giving physical way to him, she felt as if she'd already lost the argument; not for lack of a debating point, but that of principle for standing up to him.

"For the sake of argument, let's just say that this was the mugger's fault. He got what was coming to him, and he shouldn't have been committing a crime in the first place." All Janna earned for this was a stunned look from Marco. "What?"

"Sounds strange, coming from you. What, I mean you're constantly doing something that you shouldn't. Stealing my things… breaking into my room, my house, my locker at school-"

"I get the point," Janna interjected whilst rolling her eyes, though she soon became altogether jaded. "I sound hypocritical. You wanna beat me up, don't you? Break one of my arms so I'll learn my lesson? Maybe try to brain me with a baseball bat?"

"It's occurred to me when you act as if you're trying to irk me on purpose," Marco said from between clenched teeth. He soon relaxed after seeing her mild stare, one that appeared as if she was waiting for him to carry out the act. "But I don't want to. Just quit doing it, and that'll be the end of it."

"I can change. But the question is, why can't you? You know… stop acting like some kind of a lone-wolf jerk. Ever since you've come back from Mewni, it's been one thing after another."

"You keep pushing us away, Marco," Jackie said, putting in her two cents. "We didn't do anything to deserve any of this. We're your friends."

"A fat lot of good that's done for me," Marco muttered heatedly. "I've been screwed over in Mewni by 'friends', and all people have been doing is to keep reminding me about them, as if they're so damn perfect. 'Where's Star, and is she coming back' this, and 'can you tell me about what you've been doing there' that. Just a bunch of tall-talking asses and-"

"So you're taking out your anger on us because of… what? What did they do to you?" For the first time, Jackie felt like she'd made some serious progress in getting to the root of the problem. All they had to do was to allow him to vent, and they'd find out what was bothering him. Hopefully, things could improve from there.

"What did they do to me?" Recalling the harsh reprimand he had gotten from the Magic High Commission and their informal banishment of him in response to his advocation, he could feel his anger rise, despite his best efforts to quell it. He was about to tell the two girls but deferred at the last second. "It's none of your business. Besides, you're the one who spouted off that 'you're not Marco' crap. Just… get **out** of my room. Leave me alone." He trudged back to his mattress, utterly disgruntlement clear on his features as he sat on it.

In doing this, he pulled Jackie's attention to what was apparently a bed-… it was merely a sheeted mattress on the ground, and the only other furniture in the room was a simple chair and table, on top of which rested his books and a second-hand bought laptop. Even the walls were begging for a coat of paint if they'd been only rendered with mortar; she thought back to what Janna had said about Marco's state of affairs since his return. Perhaps he really had lost most, if not all of his possessions, and could only wonder what could have possibly happened in Mewni to leave him so upset.

She, like Janna, was about to approach closer to him, but the punk stopped her in her tracks. Before she could ask why, Janna merely pointed at her own cheeks, before gesturing her head at Marco.

His crescents were the brightest they've ever been.

Deeper, far in his psyche, Appendaxuz considered whether or not these two girls would soften Marco's feelings to those who had crossed him on Mewni. He could easily see what they were doing-… they were playing the parts of therapists. First, they'd burrow in, trying to get closer to him to figure out what'd happened to him. Sooner or later, they'd find out when his emotional walls crumbled, and they'd urge him to forget about Mewni and its denizens, or perhaps even to _forgive_ them. Not only would Marco become altogether too weak and hesitant in the heat of conflict, but he ran the risk of actually suspending or even not bothering completely to destroy the Wellspring…!

There was an easy choice, and the iniquity made it.

On the outside, Jackie was now questioning whether or not Janna was refraining from confronting the Diaz despite her earlier rebuke. She'd come to discover in herself some sort of vigor again in believing in Marco's better nature, and she refused to back down as easily. She couldn't claim to know more about Marco than Janna; the punk could probably write stories about him given their frequent interactions. Nonetheless, Jackie had firm belief that from what she'd seen during her brief dating phase with Marco was that he wouldn't hurt her. He had to have some semblance of feelings for her, didn't he? It would be wrong to use this feeling just to win him over to his better nature, but she had few options that actually stood a chance of working.

In the next moment, a wretched feeling washed over her, chilling her to the bone. She'd already begun shivering akin to Janna and rubbed absently at the goosebumps that started to form on her arms. She was baffled that such a feeling could happen in the middle of June, and had no inklings to what could've caused it. There was also fear mixed in, and it was to such a degree that she couldn't even find it in her to even approach the Diaz, although stepping backwards came much easier.

Wait…

Away from Marco? Did that mean that it was his very aura that permeated the room like this? Already, her shivering from the cold followed up to utter fear. It was almost to the point that she could not only sense it but also **see** it coming from the Diaz, a foul green thing. It was comprised purely of his inner emotions, she realized that intimidation was the strongest in it, daunting. It was no longer simply a dare to her, which she believed she had failed earlier, or a challenge. It was a **declaration**. He was sitting on his mattress, glaring at them in the way that a guard dog would sit close to where it was pegged. There was a reach it had and if they entered the bounds, that is, within arm's length of Marco, there was no question what he would do to them. Given his newfound strength, he could rip them apart.

Already praying that he wouldn't, Jackie took a step to him, and her fear grew stronger. At this point, it was as if she was trying to walk through a blizzard against the wind and found it rising increasingly worse. The teen tried to tell herself that Marco was some sort of calm in the center of it all, that she needed only to brave through his aura to get to him. He wouldn't hurt her, would he? _Kill her_?

She urged herself another step. She was close to the point where she was within perfect arm's reach. Already, tears were welling up in her jadeite eyes from her anxiety and fright as every fiber of her being screamed at her to get the hell away from him, and yet she persisted.

One more step was taken. By now, she might as well have been trying to walk through a solid wall, and it was here that her fear and his anger was thickest. If Jackie lessened the gap even one more inch, then that would be it. Just one… inch.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to nerve herself to make the move but her body refused to. Just one more inch. Opening her eyes, Thomas looked down to where he was seated and saw that his glare hadn't changed. She searched for anything besides rage, any sort of leeway-… and came up short. She was purely trying to reach out to him both empathetically and physically, knowing that she was basically asking for trouble in every sense of the word.

Her breath came in pants. The minutes passed slowly as time seemingly warped to her. Jackie had lost her perception of time as she'd long grown numb with dread, and yet still tried to find some _vestige_ of strength in her to make the final step.

One final step.

She could not. She could **not**. Jackie collapsed in front of him, and scooted away from him backwards, mostly in relief to get away from his oppressive aura… and in shame for having been overwhelmed. Jackie was already beating herself up about it when Janna helped her up.

"Maybe another time, when we're on some sort of neutral ground instead of his own bedroom," Janna whispered to her. "Besides, at least we know who he has the real problem with, don't we?"

'With Star. Star Butterfly. It's really her, isn't it?" Jackie asked herself in her mind before she looked at Marco, who still hadn't budged an inch. 'It has to be. They did something to him, but there's a lot more that we're not getting…'

"C'mon," Janna began to tug on Jackie's arm before she called out to Marco. "Thanks for having us over, Marco." On that note, the two girls left the room. But as Jackie did, however, the severe oppressive aura which she'd felt seemingly lessened by the tiniest margin as something new mixed with it; there was a trace of sadness in it, a misery which slightly diluted its strength. Jackie needn't even look behind her at Marco to know that his expression had changed… ever so slightly.

She was wrong. It was still Marco.

Wasn't he?

* * *

 **Holy crap, I nearly broke the record again.** _ **Almost...**_ **! But hey, check out that drama. This is a chapter I** _ **can**_ **be happy with!**

 **-I wonder if you all got the three references. Sure, one of them was about this fic itself, but there were two more obvious ones, during Marco's little scene with Appendaxuz. Something about a comic and a… (raises an eyebrow) a Shakespearean piece?**

 **-I think I kept them in character… kinda. Jackie and Janna, I mean. They were acting slightly OOC, but they've had another year to grow, hadn't they? It's nearly been one year since Star went back to Mewni during the Toffee Saga.**

 **-As for the Guest who asked, no, it's not a stupid question. Don't worry, he gets his stuff back… eventually. I wouldn't write that he'd get a weapon if he would never get to use it. Besides, you think he's going to sit around on Earth for eternity? I think I've already hinted today at how he's getting back.**

 **-As for the second guest, I'll write about his parents although I think it goes without saying that they're worried.**

 **-I feel like I opened up the shipping doors for Jarco and Manna a little bit, but let me make it clear that I'm already leaning over to Markapoo and/or Miggs. I just haven't tagged the shippings into the story description until I'm sure that I've concreted everything together. It'd be a damn shame if I made a promise and not end up keeping it.**

 **That's that. Happy New Year's when it comes.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	9. Christen

**Vestiges**

 **Happy New Year… Happy New Week? Meh.**

 **Apparently, I've made a resolution to conclude my longest running fics between now and next year July. It's actually not a long time because I still need to juggle normal life and its usual crap.**

 **It means more sporadic updates for** ** _Suo Potentiale._**

 **Since that's the case, I'd better try to make this update a damned good one.**

 **9.**

Her chin rested in the palm of her upright hand, the fingers tapping against her chin as her mind wandered in thought. Whilst she leaned into her hand that was supported by the ground itself she was lying on, she wrote down ideas and notes on how to beat Hekapoo's challenge. It was filled with stray jottings and observations she learned whilst combating the demigoddess; her strengths, possible weaknesses, anything that could be useful.

Some things were practical, such as the realization that the demigoddess had increased her blind spot by donning a hairstyle which completely covered her right eye. Other things weren't welcoming; due to her short-ish stature giving her a low center of gravity, Hekapoo was nearly impossible to ensnare in a ground-trap whilst running. With all things considered, Higgs knew of a few dozen ways to blow out Hekapoo's flame, but they were all nullified simply because she had a lack of resources and procedures for carrying it out.

With a sigh of deep frustration, the squire drew a circle so hard on the paper that it nearly ripped, outlining Hekapoo's name. "Damn! How can I beat her, much less find her and pass the challenge in _one_ year?! It's impossible!"

That was the raw, plain truth. To get her own dimensional scissors, she'd already made eight attempts. _Failed_ attempts. In all of her endeavors, she'd come closest on her most recent one, and she'd collapsed from sheer physical exhaustion and mental fatigue after six years on the foray.

What more would one more effort do to her, if she failed to pass within a single year? Would she die, as according to the Vulcan scissor-maker? While this carried serious ramifications, that of **death** , what really bothered her… was the frightening fact that she did not care.

Of course, she did not wish to die, and she knew that she had no intentions of literally dying just to see Marco. What baffled her was that she did not care for the dire warning she received and was still more than willing to _risk_ her life regardless. That was a clear difference, yet… why would she even be willing to put her life in jeopardy, for Marco no less?

Was Hekapoo right? Was she actually falling for the Diaz?

Higgs shook her head as she picked up the paper and sat up against the wall behind her. "Nah", she muttered to herself as she looked at the Diaz's bedroom door across from her. "I ain't. Just a good friend. That's all."

That's right. A friend…? She was positively sure that she wasn't infatuated with him in the least. To concede, she did have a strong desire to reunite with him, but that didn't play anything along the lines of love or affection. Furthermore, simply because Hekapoo was a demigoddess did not mean that she was incapable of erring and making mistakes. She could be wrong about her (Higgs) liking Marco far more than just in the manner of being friends.

Since that was the case, what could be a reason good enough to warrant her longing to see Marco again? Even now, she was sitting in the hall across from his door and she got up to go stand before it, staring at the warnings plastered over it by the M.H.C.

They told her to stay out of the room, but it was already nearly impossible to enter due to the security set up by the Commission. To ward off magical attempts to enter the room, it was protected by a mystic barrier, and for physical attempts, the door and the walls in its vicinity was reinforced even stronger than the Royal Family's quarters. She had been coming here nearly ritually, only to stare at the face of futility. It was why she ached to earn her own scissors, simply because she knew that his scissors were in his bedroom… and might as well have been in another dimension.

It was a strange fuel that drove her to this point. Throughout the first of their interactions, they were acrimonious and acidic to one another. It was already a lifetime ago, from what she could remember, that they had clashed in Quest Buy over the purchases of items long gone from memory. She could recall that this sort of sour relationship had continued into their subsequent relations... and yet, he'd been the better person and gave her an assist. At first, she'd thought that he was just another goody-two-shoes, though this soon changed when she gained more insight into his character. The term 'good' was too plain to describe someone… but it was so strange to see that it fit him so well.

That did not mean that he was without fault. Like everyone else, he could exude confidence so high it could be likened to pride. He could lie, steal (that is, borrow without asking) and all the other traits that came with being a 'normal' person. Yet, how could he do it with such sincerity? Why would he do those things for the betterment of many, instead of considering himself first? What drove him to be who he was?

Not to mention the fact that he had plenty of appeal, not only in personality qualities, but he was incredibly good-looking…

Higgs covered her face with her hands as realization struck her. "Oh no…"

Oh yes. She _had_ been falling for him… or had least started to. And why not? How could she not? She was a growing teen (notwithstanding her age in Hekapoo's dimension) and it was hardly as if the Diaz made it difficult for her to become infatuated with him. Despite her hardy attitude, she was still subject to her own feelings and hormones like everyone else her age.

But what could and _would_ she do about it?

"You idiot!" she yelled as slammed her fist into the door. The sturdy door did not even give a millimeter and the skin above her bare knuckles burst, bleeding an imprint where she had struck at it in anger. She did not even flinch, although her bottom lip nearly quivered as she neared to tears. Instead of stemming from her physical hurt, it was more from her internal emotional hurt finally reaching its breaking point. "What a wicked game you played," she said quietly, "to make me feel this way. Even if it's not love or anything like that, I still miss you. I told you to leave damn well enough alone. I warned you that the M.H.C. didn't like what you were saying about the usage of magic. But you had to keep going and piss them off. And now, they've gotten rid of you. How long has it been for you and everyone else? Six months?"

Higgs slumped to her knees before the door, trying to keep herself together but was failing as her crushing disappointment and attachment issues threatened to overwhelm her. "For me, it's been almost eighteen years… I'm not like everyone else. I haven't forgotten… I haven't moved on… I _can't_ …"

As she usually did, she sought for a peep through the keyhole whenever her disappointment and lack of patience caught up with her. It'd been a practice of hers that helped to remind her of what she struggled for, what she hoped for. She knew that Marco wasn't inside, but a glimpse of where they used to commune on their off-times helped for her morale.

This time, it was not to be. The keyhole was blocked.

Higgs could not find even find the words to express the mixture of her utter frustration and anger when she saw the blockage. It built up inside her but before she could yell an intelligible curse, she noticed that there was a bit of light around the impasse. "…Wait… is that…"

Already growing excited despite her common senses trying to quell her rising hopes, she pulled out her thin tanto-style knife and stuck it inside, working at the blockage. After feeling distinct turns inside the keyhole, she no longer tried to control her own optimism as it swelled out of proportion. Higgs got up to retrieve her paper from across the hall and stuck it halfway beneath the door, just under the keyhole's location. Working at the obstacle once more, she kept at it for another five minutes, scraping, digging and angling until finally, the knife slid straight through the keyhole up to the hilt. Accompanying this accomplishment, there was a tinkle of metal on the other side.

Higgs withdrew her knife out of the keyhole and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. In fact, she knelt there for a while, hesitating in the knowledge that she could be wrong… and daring to hope that she wasn't.

She took hold of the paper and tugged on it, bit by bit. Slowly, the sheet of paper revealed itself along with her notes. Gradually, the paper came and just when she thought that the paper's length had been retrieved with nothing on it-… when she just couldn't bear anymore…-there her goal lay on the very edge of the paper.

It was the key to the door.

…

It took a proper week before Higgs got a proper hold of Hekapoo once more. It was after one of her scheduled conferences that the demigoddess was found chatting with a fellow member of the M.H.C., Rhombulous. It didn't miss the squire's notice to see the security aficionado of the Commission give her a look of distrust when she asked to speak to Hekapoo privately, although she did not care much for the bias. She had far more important matters to expend her attention on, and at the moment, nothing could get her mood down.

After he left the two alone, Hekapoo took a sip of the fiery brew in her teacup whilst regarding Higgs with a curious stare. "So what's this about? It's not another challenge, is it?"

"It's another challenge," Higgs deadpanned in a monotone, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"No." The single syllable was plain as it was ultimate. Already, Hekapoo was making as if to leave and turned her back, but Higgs grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Wait…! You said that if I made another attempt, I could suffer a mental backlash and die."

"Yeah, I did say that." Hekapoo shrugged off the squire's grasp on her shoulder. Without even turning to look at her, she said her supplement. "Took you long enough… eight attempts? Apparently, you've finally realized that you're suicidal and a glutton for punishment."

The teen ignored the jab at her pride. "I'm not suicidal… but a glutton for punishment? Maybe. But you also said that I had a year at the most if I ever wanted to make one last effort to earn my dimensional scissors. I'd either have to blow out the flames of a hundred of your clones… or the original flame. _Yours_."

Hekapoo would've laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation if had she not wished to remain cordial with the squire. She turned to fully regard the girl, trying to gauge her. "Mm-hmm… And you're going to do what you couldn't do in eight attempts… in eighteen years total… in only **one** year?"

"Hey… ninth time's the charm. If I can't do it one year, I'll bail and I'll never ask you again. Squire's honor."

"Squire's honor? P'shaw." The Vulcan scissor-maker chuckled at the thought. "I've seen some of the shit you guys do to one another when you all get competitive. But I've gotta admit… one year? Sounds promising. You'll _never_ bother me about it again? Who says that I have to agree? I don't have anything to lose by telling you 'no'."

Higgs let out a long exhale and blew out Hekapoo's flame, much to the Hekapoo's annoyance. "See? I just have to do **that** in one year. It's not impossible."

Hekapoo's flame flared back into existence while she stared at Higgs intensely. "Is that so? Well… I have nothing else to do except for _everything else_ ," she remarked in an ironical tone. "Do you think that I don't have other things to do than to entertain another waste of my time?"

It was at this point that Higgs considered groveling but thought the better of it. She had her misgivings, but she'd always been a person of logic. "That's no excuse. You can make clones to do all of those 'responsibilities'. I think that the only reason why you're telling me 'no'… is because you're afraid that I'll only get myself killed. Only another tragic death to mark up as a failure to ever pass your legendary test. You've got nothing to worry about… except for me leaving a boot-print on your ass when I'm done."

"… You've got talk…" Hekapoo carefully measured the girl, wondering why she seemed so high-spirited this time around. Had she some new trick up her sleeve? A secret? This was almost normal for each of her attempts whenever the squire thought that she had some new strategy to beat her, although they had all failed. This time, however, didn't seem like a hope and expectation of success. It felt like a complete _assurance_ of success, and it made a difference.

"I've got more than just talk. I aim to _win_."

Hekapoo grinned widely as the flame that usually burned between her horns flared back up into existence. "So you're the _squire with the fire_ , huh? You're gonna beat me?" Taking one long drink from her cup, she brushed away at the traces of lava from her lips with the back of her hand before opening a portal with her scissors. "Alright, Higgs. We'll see if you'll get yo'self a pair of scissors to go visit your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Higgs said sharply as she followed Hekapoo through the portal.

"Ho, ho. I'd _believe_ you… but your lips were moving when you answered me." On the other side, Hekapoo stepped out into the barren landscape that was the beginning open area in her dimension (that is, dimension X-103), followed closely by Higgs whose body had instantly transformed and revamped as soon as she emerged. In a matter of a single second, the teen who she had more-or-less been at eye level with previously now stood head and shoulders above her, decked out in her warrior-esque outfit.

Said outfit was, whilst wearing a larger version of her blue tunic underneath, now consisted of a solid breastplate that protected her entire upper-torso, even as far as having shoulder pads that supported a far range of movement, although the lumbar area of her lower back was only chainmail to improve flexibility. In terms of chainmail, it was more of the same along the back of her legs, although the front was plated as did her upper body.

It was an armor that Higgs was proud of; she'd had it custom made by a pair of the best forgers in this dimension for a tall fee. In fact, Hekapoo could hardly even remember seeing the squire without it after her mid-twenties.

Now, she was taking it off.

"What are you doing, Higgs?" Hekapoo queried as she watched the squire seat herself on a nearby rock to remove her protective covering. "I thought you loved that armor to death. You know, besides being a bit of safe-freak whenever you're here."

"Have you _seen_ some of the weird shit that goes on in your dimension?" Higgs asked rhetorically as she finished pulling off her chainmail from her legs. "I can't outrun everything… anything that I can't hide from or escape, I _fight_."

"Maybe you'd stand a better chance of _running_ if you didn't have it on?" The tone was dripping with sarcasm, but Higgs only smiled.

"Exactly."

Hekapoo's visible eyebrow raised ostensibly in incredulity. "You're going to chase _me_? 'Cause you've got longer legs and no more armor?" Even now, Higgs was obviously stretching to prepare for a run, even going so far as to 'catch' her now shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. 'Oh, this girl's ready to run. She WANTS to run…' "Alright. You wanna run? Are you gonna sprint to catch up to me? That's _hilarious_." Even now, clones were rapidly being formed from the demigoddess, continuing to the point of creating a hundred. "You've got one year, Higgs." With that said, every Hekapoo, original and the clones, began shuffling around with one another to confuse Higgs as to obscure which was the true scissor-maker. It was already unnecessary-… Higgs, for some reason, had closed her eyes when she saw that she had started to create clones, although the squire had stared at her specifically before the number became overwhelming. Hekapoo thought it strange, but she shook it off; it mattered little. **"One… year…** "

Then they all took off like a shot in every direction.

It was the same for years. They'd soon start entering portals to every corner of this dimension to conceal themselves, but Higgs couldn't help but smirk in the face of this discouraging challenge. She'd never thought of herself as devious, but it certainly helped to know that her own characteristics and habits had helped to mask her own intentions. In every attempt to earn her dimensional scissors, Higgs started off with a new tactic (that'd always failed) and by now, they'd served to make the demigoddess underestimate her. Furthermore, the fact that she now had a deus ex machina to solve her problems was another welcomed advantage.

There were two reasons why she'd played her line for removing her armor. For starters, she never lied to Hekapoo when she asked if she stood a better chance of chasing her, that much was true. However, this was all done to make the self-assured demigoddess want to 'prove' that she couldn't be beaten in terms of speed. Secondly, the small holster that she had carried with her from Mewni (secured just behind her on her hips to the left to ensure that Hekapoo wouldn't notice it), was underneath all of the armor that appeared on her the minute she transformed into her adult form. She needed an excuse to remove her armor, and the vulcan scissor-maker bought it.

Pulling off the holster, she then reached inside beyond the flap and pulled out a pair of sturdy dimensional scissors. Regarding it for a moment, she stared at it once more as she had done for the past week. From the sleek of the blades to the well-built blue loops to cradle the fingers, it was the tool that had stimulated her desires for the past seven days. It'd been that much harder not to simply use Marco's scissors to go see him. It'd been a difficult temptation, and the last few days felt even more difficult than the past eighteen years that she'd been striving. "Marco…" Higgs whispered to herself as she ran a thumb over the engraving of his name in the scissors. "It's only for a little while longer... after all, I've waited this long. But I'm going to risk your scissors to earn mine. Everyone will judge me for using your scissors to see you… but no one can say anything if I have my own pair to do what I want with it, whenever I need to. Help me… one more time…"

Higgs took a moment to picture Hekapoo in her mind, her horns, her flame, her ethereal fire-shaped dress… even down to the last trace of lava on her lips that she'd failed to brush off when she'd been drinking it. It was the one thing that set her different from every single one of her clones; they were produced from what Hekapoo looked like, but didn't replicate anything foreign on her person at the time. It was the only characteristic she had to go on, but it would be enough to mark her as the right target. The squire then got off the rock she was sitting on and took a deep breath.

"Here goes… _everything_ , I guess."

She then reached out and snipped a portal open right before the rock, and instantly, a sprinting Hekapoo dashed through it uncontrollably fast and tripped over the shin-high rock into a terrible face-plant. A miles-per-hour dash was instantly reduced to zero in a split-second, and Hekapoo was nearly as angry as she was hurt. "Agh! What the fu-"

Higgs knelt down and blew out the Hekapoo's flame. "I'm not any good at passing your challenge like everyone else. But damn…" The squire grinned widely. "I'm the one who beat you the fastest. How long did this last? Two minutes?"

"Oh…" Hekapoo groaned angrily as she got up, not even bothering to dust herself off. "Hell has no _fury_ like this bitch, Higgs! I'm going to-"

"Give me my scissors," Higgs finished calmly. "A long time ago, you told me that all is fair in love, war… and your challenge. There's no rule that says that I can't use a pair of scissors to help me earn another one."

Hekapoo folded her arms. "Just because of **this,** I don't have to make any scissors for you. And how did you get a hold of Marco's scissors-" She snapped her fingers in realization. "Star Butterfly. Rhombulous just told me that he gave her the key. She wanted it because she wanted to be able to hide out from her parents in Marco's room, a place that no one could get into without the key. That responsibility-dodging princess-!"

"The key was on the other side of the door when I took it out," Higgs commented lowly as she began to put on her armor once more, now that her trickery had worked. "So I don't know how she got out and left it there."

"Well, after locking the door, she can fly through any damn window as she pleases, now can't she? Now get the hell out of my dimension. I should've known that you were up to something when I saw how upbeat you were. I can't believe that I got tripped up by a _rock_!"

"Well, even the gods themselves can make mistakes," Higgs muttered carefully. "There's enough proof when they tried to get rid of Marco." She observed that Hekapoo became far more reserved, but she kept on. "And you helped them because I know that **you're** the one who creates the portals to get people where they need to go… or dump them where they don't want to be."

"It was out of my hands, and it wasn't my sole decision to make," Hekapoo said quietly, "you know that. But stop dodging the point I'm trying to make. You shouldn't have stolen his scissors to try to earn yours."

"I'm not stealing it. I'm the one who's going to give it back to him. And that's far more than anyone else has done…" the squire accused. "It's more than what _you've_ done."

"I care about Marco as much as you do, Higgs, and maybe even more. You think he's just a preacher, hmm? Talking about we should 'stop using magic'? He's declared war on the Commission! Omnitraxus has been watching him, and he's not exactly the Marco you played buddy-buddy with. The guy's getting kinda unstable-"

"We've only known each other for a few months, but during the few weeks before he was sent away, we got to a point where he trusted me enough to tell what was going on. I know that he was starting to act a little less than that guy everyone knew, but the M.H.C. were the ones who were starting to lose their grips. So far as I see it, it's just like a few years back when there were a bunch of civvies demonstratin' about how the King and Queen were getting fat while everyone else was going hungry. Let's just say that we don't hear about those civilians anymore, and I'm not going to just _imagine_ that the royal family gave in to what the people wanted."

"I know…" Hekapoo bit her lower lip for a moment, deep in thought about what she wanted. It was a question of duty versus personal desires, notwithstanding what the others would think about her if she did. After a pause, she made her decision and created a portal to her workshop, beckoning Higgs to follow her. On the other side, she noticed that the squire felt put-off slightly by being overwhelmed but now wasn't the time. Wielding on her powers of pyrokinesis, Hekapoo started to work on what she did best. She levitated a molten mix of metal infused with the golden blaze of magic from a special container and began to form a pair of scissors, meticulously and skillfully.

Higgs could only watch in awe and anticipation when she gazed at the scissors beginning to take shape from the crude glob. It was masterful, as in the fashion of a potter would create beautiful pottery from clay, a beautiful object being gleaned from coarse beginnings. It was completely enthralling, and after a glance at the squire, Hekapoo smiled in amusement.

"You oughta see your face right now. Well, let's get your name on this thing. 'Higgs', right?"

Higgs looked down at Marco's scissors still in her hands, noting that it was his first name engraved on the blade. The letters were almost stylized into something symbolic and reverential, and she felt that it'd be appropriate if her scissors were the same. Looking at her scissors nearing completion, she made her request. "Um… Hekapoo? Could you put my first name on my scissors?" she asked sheepishly. "I told you a few months ago-"

"I know it." Hekapoo began to will the name into the scissors and finished its creation before presenting the complete result to Higgs. "Since the first thing you're going to do is go pay Marco a visit… could you say 'hi' for me?"

The teen in the body of a woman merely shrugged as she took the scissors; not even taking the time to fully appreciate them, she immediately created a portal with a mental picture of Marco in mind. "Tell him yourself."

With that said, she was gone.

Left alone, Hekapoo sauntered over to her couch and took a seat, reaching over to the nearby table where a pot of tea laid. In a flare, she materialized the cup she had been drinking from before and poured herself another helping of the lava-like brew into it. After taking a sip, she smiled to herself.

"I just might."

* * *

Marco leaped up at the wall and performed a triple-step wall run, grabbing at the top to heave himself up easily. Once on the roof of the store, he took off again in a speedy dash to the adjoining rooftop next to it, leaping over the wide alley to cross. Soon he was forced to vault over the rooftop barricade and caught hold of a nearby fire-escape bar the next three-story-tall apartment building before he could hit the ground. It gave him a sense of accomplishment to perform this feat, however, and he then easily climbed to the top of yet another roof once more. Making a mad dash, he leaped off over the edge.

The wind tugged at him wildly as he had the sensation of flight-… Marco felt somewhat enlightened during the few seconds it lasted, appreciating the vista that he beheld. All too soon, it came to an end as gravity remembered him and pulled him back down to the earth. Without even skipping a beat, he executed a flawless parkour roll and started sprinting again as soon as his momentum and falling damage had been safely dispersed. In a blur, he was roving through the streets, maneuvering over and around obstacles nearly at breakneck speeds.

He'd been free-running at full-tilt for two hours.

His strength was already noteworthy as was most other aspects that made him up, forcing him to consider improving his efficiency. For the past few weeks, he'd been hard at work to improve his longevity, agility and overall usefulness via free-running in his neighborhood. After hurting himself multiple times and being mistaken by the police to be some sort of fleeing criminal more than once, he'd finally begun to hit a new peak. He was faster than he'd ever been, not to mention far more nimble. It had also done wonders for his reflexes in order to avoid accidents.

Yet, there was nothing that could prepare him for what happened next.

A portal opened at an adjacent just a bare meter ahead of him and a girl roughly his size stepped out of it. Being at such a close distance, he couldn't stop or even change direction out of his sprint.

"Get outta the way!"

"What the hell- OOF!" Both went down in a tangle of limbs into the grass on someone's open lawn, although it hardly detracted from the physical hurt the collision had caused. Higgs was the first to react from below whoever had 'tackled' her and grabbed her antagonist's wrist by the shoulder and planted her boot in her oppressor's gut. "Get the fuck off of me!" She heaved him off with a shove-kick and got up quickly, already pulling out her knife as she settled into a stance. The boy was the same as he rose to his feet, putting up his fists. "You oughta watch where you're going-… wait…" Her eyes widened as she took in the form of the teen before her. "Marco?"

Hearing her voice his name in familiarity, Marco dropped his fighting posture and studied the person before him. There were a few changes- her hair had begun to grow out, among a few other cosmetic changes, but it was still undeniable once he saw the upturned almond-shaped emeralds that were her eyes. "Higgs? Higgs!" She slid her long knife back into its scabbard and held her arms out to welcome him as he approached her.

"Damn, nerd, it's been ages!" She embraced him tightly as soon as he got close enough, an act he returned in kind. In doing so, he couldn't help but notice that the time that they'd been apart had done her more than just a few 'tiny' changes, particularly in the ways of a womanly growth; he had to quell his rising feelings of _fuego_ in himself.

"Yeah… it's been a long time," the Diaz mumbled. "Nearly seven months…"

"That's how long it's been for you," she whispered into his ear. "I've been waiting to see you for _eighteen years."_

"Eighteen years?" Marco boggled as his head rose sharply to look her in the face. "But you still look as young as before… then that means…"

She wore a smug expression as she finally released him to retrieve a pair of scissors from her pocket and held it up. It was a hardy looking pair of scissors with a small curve towards the pointed ends, with maroon-colored oval loops for the fingers. "I got my own scissors."

Marco astonished at the fact, even as he watched her close the portal she'd come through. "They're legit… you got your own dimensional scissors? Wow. But you took _eighteen_ years…"

"So you took sixteen. Big whoop. Besides, I meant that I spent eighteen years total for nine attempts. Kinda sucks, but here I am." Her lackluster explanation did little for his confusion, but he urged her to follow him to his home seeing that it was a few doors down the street. "Looks like you haven't changed much from what I remember…"

"Really? I guess you shouldn't have taken so long. _Eighteen_ _years_?"

"We roughly the same age!" Higgs defended fiercely. "I only hit thirty-three, and you're basically thirty-one. Since I'm older now, it means you should listen to me _more_. Unlike what you did before you got your ass sent packing back to earth. I warned you that they'd take action." She gazed around carefully in observation, seeing the front lawns and the well-kept houses of the neighborhood and shrugged. "Doesn't seem like much of a punishment. It looks like a nice enough place."

"It is. _Sometimes_. But I'm not going to listen to a cougar- AGH!"

"Cougar?!" She wasn't amused by his inane joke, and he suffered a punch to his shoulder for it. "I'm only _two_ damn years older! I'll have you know that my last attempt only took two minutes to beat her. That's the fastest anyone has ever done it!"

"Wow. That's impressive," he admitted while laughing cheerily whilst rubbing his chin in thought. "Feels like we've been spending lifetimes to earn these things. I wonder what you looked like at thirty-three years of age…"

"Since you keep bringing that up…" She took out his scissors from the holster where it had been kept and dangled it in his face to taunt him. "I won't give _these_ back to you!"

"Wait!" He tried to snatch the scissors, but she retracted them out of his reach before he could. "I'm sorry! Please! I need them-"

"Nah, you don't. Besides, you're all anti-magic now, aren't you? I just needed to see if you still felt the same. Looks like you don't."

"I still _do,_ I really don't want to use anything magic related and help to make things worse. But I need my scissors to get back to Mewni, just this once." He came to a stop and directed her to his house. He let her in through the gate before him (ignoring her quip about him being a 'gentleman') before they both went up the walkway.

"I reckon that you've got a good thing going on here. Why don't you just forget about Mewni, huh? Looks a whole lot better here… even _smells_ better. Not to mention you must've gotten over your hang-over for the princess since you're not around her…"

"What? Who told you about that?" Marco demanded. "I'm not hung-over for her."

"Doesn't matter who told me. But I believe you." Secretly, Higgs delighted in hearing his negative response. At least this meant that he was _available,_ both relationship-wise and emotionally. Wait… what? _Hold your horses, Higgs,_ she told herself.

"I need to destroy the Wellspring," the boy declared. "That's a must. If I don't-"

"I get you, Marco. Apocalypse. I know already. It's all you ranted about before they kicked you out," Higgs deadpanned. "But it almost feels like you're doing this because you don't like the Butterfly family anymore. Besides, who said that this apocalyptic crap happens in your lifetime? It could be dozens of lifetimes and generations from now."

"So I'm going to let my kids worry about it? Or their kids? Or **their** kids?" Marco argued. "I admit that the royal family pissed me off, but it's obvious that they want to consolidate their power. That's a big fat 'no', and I'm going to stop the usage of magic. They just decided to throw me out, and that was only when I was giving warnings. You should've seen them! They were judging me, trying to belittle me… all I did was warn people, and they put me out like a dog. If that's the case, then-"

"That's enough of that." Higgs interrupted his line as they made it to his front door. "I don't wanna dwell on that. Just take your scissors. It's yours, anyway." She handed a pair of scissors to him, mistakenly giving him hers. "You earned them, so do whatever you want with 'em."

He took the scissors from her. "Fine. Wait… this isn't mine." For the first time, he was now seeing the name engraved on her scissors and he was surprised to see that it wasn't the name he expected. "Hmm… that doesn't say 'Higgs'." He looked back at her, then down at the scissors. "Huh… now that I think about it…" he remarked, already beginning his tease, "I was wondering if your parents mistook you for a boy or something when they named you- OW! Damn it!"

"You wanna make another wisecrack?" She brandished her fist threateningly, slightly pleased to see him try to placate her, lest she should punch him again. "Do you?"

"No, no!"

"I'll have you know that 'Higgs' is a unisex name on Mewni, even though it was just my **last** name!"

"Alright, I get it! Sorry, okay? Damn, your punches hurt like the devil." They swapped their scissors to rectify her error, and they both secured them on their persons.

"I haven't been slacking off. Now, are you going to show me inside?" At this, Marco grinned widely as he pulled out a key from his hip-pocket and unlocked the door, opening it to permit her entrance into his house.

"Welcome to my home… Sienna."

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. I was considering entertaining suggestions for her first name, but this one seemed to be the most appealing for someone like Higgs (orange hair and personality) that made her more…** ** _feminine?_** **It was also a bonus that it wasn't prissy like a princess's name or common, like Rose, Ginger, or Amber.**

 **Felt relevant to her ethnicity, too. (Midieval?) As a precaution, I 'claimed' that her name (Higgs) is unisex, like 'Jessie' or 'Hayden' or 'Sydney'. It means that the names are applicable to both genders, basically. I haven't wrecked the fandom by giving her a first name… besides, the fandom's already been wrecked for a long time. Nefcy is sitting cozily at her home, drinking a warm cup of fandom tears while she reads SVTFOE tweets from miserable fans.**

 **Besides that, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Miggs is definitely underway now (they feel so** ** _comfortable together_** **) and I feel like I can pat myself on the back. I successfully fleshed out a minor character from only one airing episode whilst avoiding future retconning. I'm a happy f-fiction writer. Time for the harder shipping,** ** _Markapoo_** **. Oh, and plot. And drama…**

 **Now that I've made up my mind and am committed, I figured that it's time to add some tags. In any case, tell me what you thought.**

 **Into the New Year and beyond,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	10. Xenophile

**Vestiges**

 **Well, I've worked a little, exercised a little, typed a little fanfiction and read some too, laughed a little, played games a little (too much :P)… I guess I've been livin' a whole lot. Back to this, I reckon.**

 **Alright, senpai...! It's my turn…**

 **10.**

He watched her enter his home and no sooner had she did was Higgs exploring throughout the house, almost as if she was checking for cracks, though she was merely doing so out of curiosity. It was eerily reminiscent of how Star behaved when she first came to earth… except for the fact that Higgs wasn't gnawing on a drinking fountain.

He had to grab her and direct her elsewhere as soon as he noticed the teen eying the radio with suspicion. "How the hell are voices and music coming from that black box?"

He racked his brain for a response. "Errm… It's because of science," he said lamely.

The squire cocked her head to one side, then the other as the word circled her brain; it was an expression that reminded of Marco of curious cats, and he found it rather cute. "'Science'? Who's that?"

Marco shook his head. That was ONE subject he didn't know how to explain in less than an hour. "Oh, uh, never mind the radio." He led her by the arm to each of the rooms in turn but by the time they ran into his parents in the kitchen. Cripes, he'd forgotten that they were home.

Not to say that he really wanted some time alone with Higgs, he thought to himself, though he would not have minded.

"… Hello… leaders of the Diaz… clan?" Sienna said awkwardly, only very barely realizing that they were his parents and leaders of his family, but not quite knowing how to address them. She did a bow at the neck, only serving to make Marco facepalm himself. "Did I do something wrong?" she hissed to him privately.

It mattered little. His parents were eccentric anyways; they weren't that easily fazed by awkward social graces, not to mention the fact that they had gotten used to a certain Butterfly's shenanigans.

 _Nothing_ fazed them anymore.

"Hello…" Rafael tried to remember the girl's name, only to finally realize that it was only their first meeting. "Hello, girl we haven't met before," he greeted brightly.

"Marco, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Angie asked whilst she diced seasonings.

"Sure, sure. Mom, dad, this is Higgs-"

"Sienna," the girl interjected, trying to offer her first name instead. Both now recognizing a 'mistake' tried to rectify it by reintroducing the squire. "I mean 'Higgs-'"

"I mean 'Sienna'," Marco said at the same time. They shared a look of slight puzzlement before Higgs _very nicely_ told him to 'make up his damned mind'.

"So which is it?" Rafael asked, "'Higgs' or 'Sienna'?"

"Any is fine," the girl hurriedly replied. The mother merely shrugged her shoulders a little before continuing.

"So, those clothes look…" Angie eyed the squire's blue tunic which had a few armored plates. "…foreign? Are you an exchange student?" she asked more excitedly. "Where are you from?"

"Exchange student…?"

Seeing her confusion, Marco came to her rescue. "She's not an exchange student, Mom, she's a friend and she's only spending... wait… how long are you staying?"

"Only one night 'cause I've got to get back by tomorrow evening," Sienna answered, "and as for the other question, I'm from Mewni." At this, his parents shared a look, but it was the same exact look that fans of a show had when it was a few minutes before viewing time. Almost immediately, his parents had practically cornered her, asking curious questions about Mewni, its occupants and its royal family were thrown out into the open. At first, Marco was actually concerned for all three of them, given the fact that Higgs somewhat had a lack of patience, or a 'didn't have a tolerance to bullcrap', as she'd mentioned once.

She didn't explode as he had expected her to, although he had (hypocritically) believed she would. 'Maybe spending eighteen years chasing Hekapoo helped her out with that.' While there was pride in the thought, his mind easily wandered to a certain demigoddess who had given the squire her scissors. To his own surprise, he realized that his musings on her weren't as harsh as all the others who dealt with him improperly on Mewni. Perhaps he did have some sort of 'soft spot' for her, although it was most likely because she had tried to defend him before he had his Inquiry.

Then again, she _did_ laugh at him when he'd first explained the nature of magic. But what about when he wasn't forthcoming with information about Star when she was sleep-portaling?

But just before that, they got along so well...

Marco sighed. It was just too confusing. He supposed that he missed the earlier days when things made more sense and had a bit more light, rather than now. However, if one thing was certain, it was that she was still strict whenever it came to scissors overseeing. Yet, his primary question still remained.

"So why didn't you just take my scissors, instead of taking so long trying to earn yours?" Marco asked suddenly, the question wrenching the girl from the 'conversation' she was having with his parents. "You know where I kept them in my bedroom, and I guess that I wouldn't have minded if you used them."

Sienna regarded him with surprise as she considered his claim. At first glance at the situation, anyone would think it was alright; sharing was caring, right?

That was correct. Perfectly so. Especially given the fact that Marco **did not** care.

After his bombed performance at Star's birthday party, he took it rather hard that she was unwilling to accept any of the gifts he had offered her. In anyone's safe guess, although both gifts were acquired after carefully analyzing what she would want, find useful and wouldn't be able to get on her own, the sandwich was the emotional gift but the scissors carried far more sentimentality and gravity. He didn't just chase a demigoddess for a decade and a half. Higgs didn't fully understand back then, but she truly did now; like Marco, she sweated, bled and wept until she could no more while she was on the foray. Although she had been at it longer overall, Marco had endured his for sixteen years _straight_. The longest she'd ever gone was six years (that failed miserably), and could only respect his tenacity.

On the issue, the Diaz had essentially performed a virtually impossible toil, and it was all of that which had gone into earning his scissors. After working to achieve something which was then refused, he'd lost his care; he no longer lent it to anyone who'd asked to borrow it. Not even his friends from the birthday party had gotten to use it to return home-… that was all Star's doing. He essentially refused to use it and didn't permit anyone to use it either. Although he had never explicitly told her that she couldn't use his scissors (though she never tried to even ask), Higgs had thought that the rule applied to her as well.

This basically meant that he held her in a higher regard than all the others. That he trusted her.

That he cared about her.

Sienna nodded favorably with a smile. "I appreciate the thought, and I would've used them... Problem is, the Magic High Commission locked your room up, reinforced it and warded it to make sure that no one could get in. Even though I wanted to use your scissors, I couldn't. I had to go earn my own. The rest is history."

Marco felt his anger rise a bit knowing that everything was kept from him on purpose, rather than a simple lack of memory or bother. "Then how'd you get my scissors if my room was so heavily protected?"

"I…" Sienna decided that the truth was the best way to go. "Star got the key and went in. But she left the key in the door, and at some point exited through the window. When I got there and saw the key, I just pushed the key through the other side of the door, then I fished it out from underneath it."

"Star was in my room?"

"Probably dodgin' duties, or so I heard. The room looked tidy enough, but the bed looked like she'd been napping in it a few times," she explained. He asked her if she got his scissors after she had earned hers, but had to tell him that she used his scissors to earn hers.

"Oh man, you wouldn't believe it!" Sienna hooted, "I got the scissors, and I went back to challenge ol' Hekapoo."

Marco boggled, "You cheated by using them?" The squire's story took off on a tangent, explaining what she had done. She hadn't even gotten fully to the end before Marco was laughing. "She tripped? I wish I was there to see it!"

"You should've been there," she jibed with a good-natured grin, "so you could've taken a picture of how _I_ beat her the _quickest_." Their chatter grew more excitable as they wandered off, and Angie smiled knowingly at her husband.

"Do you remember when we were like that?"

"Aye, sí. A bit more like rivals in high school before… your quinceañera," he replied before gaining a reminiscent look on his face. "I told you that your lips were sweeter than the candy."

The mother nodded. "Mm-hmm. You were being poetic. But have you noticed? Marco's _laughing_."

Rafael nodded. "It's been a while since we heard him laugh. They must have been good friends on Mewni, no?" he reasoned. "They sound very familiar with each other."

While an obvious point, Angie still agreed. What she was focused on was the fact that she knew her son was going through a particularly difficult stage in his life. At first glance, (and after a bit of internet research), she turned up the fact that he might have been becoming an 'Emo', and she wasn't quite sure if what he was going through was actually better, or worse.

Who knows? Perhaps he'd done something worse than start fights at school and she didn't even know about it. She would rather stay a bit ignorant to certain details like that and would focus on surrounding him with good influences.

And this girl who just came in… although she could hardly think of anyone she disliked, Angie decided that any positive vibes would be, reciprocally, positively welcomed.

"I like her."

"Sienna? Me too, me too," her husband agreed as he returned to helping her cook the dinner. In one of his rare moments of extreme foresight, he started to chuckle to himself. Of course, Angie asked him what was so funny, but he kept it to himself, mumbling something about giving Marco a 'talk'.

…

"Thanks for the dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz," Sienna thanked graciously before Marco excused both her and himself from the table.

"Wanna go watch some television in the living room?"

"'Television?' You mean that box with the different pictures? Sure!" Marco internally sighed in relief. He believed that he'd been a good host so far; he'd actually panicked once he turned it on, hoping that the immediate program shown would be 'safe' to watch. The first time he'd shown the television to Star, there was a close-up of a villain's face as he announced his 'devious plans to take over the world'. After a narwhal blast, a warranty mix-up involving guarantees against magically created whales, vague receipts, and hours of apologies and varied attempts at fixing the television, the issue was solved. Star was finally able to fix the television with magic with no ill side-effects… except for the occasional night that Marco would wake up to discover the television in his room, realizing that it was literally watching him when he was asleep.

"You're not gonna attack the T.V., are you?" Marco asked bluntly.

"Why would I do that? I like it. This 'Science guy' who made it had some good ideas."

Marco tried his best not to laugh. "Oh, yeah… Science is a smart guy. Well, let's head to the living room then."

She did a double take. "A what? A 'living room'? You have a room especially used for living?" In a moment of panic, she asked him what the current room they were in was called. "Did you call **this** room the _'Dying Room'_?!"

"It's called the 'dining room'! Because you dine in it. Eating? It makes sense."

"Then why is the other room called a 'living room'?"

"… I have no idea how to answer that."

"Well, never mind it. I'll just go take a bath. The room you do that in is still called a 'bathroom', right?" she hazarded. Seeing him nod, she then requested if she could get a 'night-shirt'."

"A night-shirt? Oh… to change into?"

"Of course. I'm not gonna sleep in my battle tunic," she answered matter-of-factly. Noticing him lapsing into a state of deep thought, she shook her head with a sigh. "You have a place for visitors to stay in, don't you? After all, the princess used to board here, didn't she?"

"Alright, fine. I'll get you a shirt., then I'll show you the guest bedroom."

…

" _ **You now have your own scissors returned to you, yet you're still here on Earth. I trust that you haven't forgotten your mission?"**_

"Of course not. She says that she's leaving this evening so I'm leaving with her then."

Appendaxuz nodded, although Marco couldn't see it. _**"Seems acceptable enough. Anyone can see that you're attached enough, but take care that she's not a pawn against us."**_

"She's no pawn of theirs," Marco grumbled angrily in her defense, "but I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why the hell did you have everyone on your chessboard as pawns, even me? Am I a _pawn_."

" _ **Of course not,"**_ Appendaxuz lied easily, _**"It was symbolic. I merely represented it so that you could easily understand what kind of situation you're in. You've played chess before, I'm sure? You should know what it's like to have barely any good pieces when the opponents are stacked both in numbers and strength against you. What is your plan once you get back to Mewni?"**_

"Find the Wellspring," Marco replied casually as if talking about the weather, "and destroy it. Look good while doing it, if possible."

" _ **That's not a plan, that's a sketchy goal at best,"**_ the iniquity said with a harrumph. _ **"You don't know where the Wellspring is, so you can't teleport there. You don't know what it's like, so you don't know what to expect. All you're armed with are your fists, and one cannot simply destroy a Siphon with their bare hands. You don't know who's there, what's there, when to get there nor how to get there. You only know WHY you need to get there, and that's not good enough."**_ His reprimand was severe.

Marco approached his table which was underneath his bedroom window. Taking note that a new dawn was rising when the rays of first sunlight hit his face, he picked up his scissors and pictured the Wellspring in his mind; the same image that he'd seen when he'd contacted Star with the All Seeing Eye spell. With that done, he snipped open a portal which he then attempted to go through. For the first time, a portal truly didn't work, and it was the equivalent of trying to walk through a wall. "What the hell? I can't get through?"

" _ **You'll need to go through a specific variety of places to get there, just as the princess had done unconsciously in her sleep. Either you do that, or you can suddenly become a princess of royal blood and go through a menagerie of coincidental growing pains. Obviously, you see the problem."**_

Marco blinked. "… Huh. That sarcasm was unnecessary, but yeah, I see the problem. So all I really need is the map Hekapoo made when she was tracking Star's portals-"

" _ **Even if you got that map back, you'd only get halfway there."**_

"Oh… right. She didn't track her the whole way," Marco hissed his teeth in disappointment as he closed the portal. "And you say that I'm going to need a weapon to take down the Wellspring?"

" _ **Not a weapon, per se. You only need a conduit that can channel my will perfectly, such as the Wards used to prevent the usage of teleportation. Acquire a potent amount of the element used to build that, make your way to the Wellspring, and the rest will simply be checkmate."**_

"Hmm… you make it sound easy?"

" _ **Marco… anything that's worth doing is never easy,"**_ Appendaxuz remarked with a sigh. Before he could continue, a sudden knock came at Marco's door, pulling the teen's attention to it. In a brief episodic fit, Marco asked if it was 'Jackie' and 'Janna' at the door, but to his relief and embarrassment, it was his guest.

"Nope. It's me," Higgs called.

"There's a lot of people named 'Me' in the world." He went over and opened the door, regarding the squire when he saw her. Marco took note of the fact that she was wearing one of his white t-shirts and for some reason, he admired how it looked on her-… or rather how _she_ looked in it. It was very casual, and it did very little to hide the fact that she was growing into a woman.

That particular detail reminded him of something… a somewhat risqué topic.

"Say, Higgs? I gave you the shirt last night since you wanted to change into something more comfortable to sleep in… don't take this the wrong way, but… errm…" Marco rambled awkwardly, "Did you happen to bring a pair of tights or something…"

"Nope!" the girl said brightly, although she had a rather _coy_ look on her face. "Your mother mentioned something about a 'wash' machine that cleaned my clothes last night and dried them while I just slept in the t-shirt."

"I know you slept in the shirt, but I'm talking about what you wore with it-"

" _Just… the t-shirt."_ The look he got on his face right then and there-… the flushed complexion of perverse embarrassment…- her ploy was perfect. "What are you _imagining_ , Marco Diaz?"

Marco coughed briefly, trying to get his blush under control. "Stop messing with me."

"When it stops working," Higgs replied. "Sir Stabby gave me two days off, and it's my second day. I was hoping… maybe you'd show me some sights? Maybe?" she said unsurely. All of a sudden, she couldn't help but wonder why she had become so flustered. Perhaps her own teasing was a double-edged sword.

It was either that, she mused, or the object of her feelings might actually have some feelings of his own for her, and it was making her nervous.

"Higgs, this is a suburb. We don't exactly have any 'sights', or a rich culture. I suppose we can still hang out… or…"

"Or what?"

"We can go break in your new dimensional scissors," Marco suggested. "Go see the multiverse, what else would you use them for?" He sounded sincere enough, but Sienna had to silently question why he'd even tell her to do such a thing. Firstly, she knew that he was basically anti-magic now, but surely he knew why she tried to even get dimensional scissors in the first place, didn't he? She did it, all for him.

Sienna wrinkled her nose in confusion, gazing at the Diaz strangely. "Maybe later," she mumbled as she wandered off.

…

The squire's confusion persisted throughout the morning, even more so into the afternoon. She'd dawdled most of her time inside the house, trying to learn more about the dimension she was currently in, or at the very least, about Marco's general way of life. Somewhere along the line, she'd found herself sitting lazily in the couch with a dictionary close by that she offhandedly flipped through every now and again. The television was on, but Higgs was ignoring it in favor of focusing on her own thoughts.

Marco was primarily against the usage of magic. In all things considered, he wouldn't have even given her the proposition that she should use her dimensional scissors to simply tour the multiverse since it was achieved through magic. It sounded rather appealing, and it would be something that she'd do even if it meant absconding her post as a squire. That wasn't the point, however. Why would he tell her to do something so hypocritical?

Why would he give her the suggestion?

She could admit that when it pertained to certain things, Marco was sometimes more easygoing and tolerant when her views and wants clashed with his. It was possible that this was one of them, but this felt like the most serious breach of his creed since the beginning of their friendship, and it only served to make her thoughts more muddled. Absentmindedly, she flipped through the dictionary to learn the definition of the word 'science'. Finding it at last, she read it out loud to herself before sighing deeply.

"At least I know it's not a man… but now I gotta look up at least a dozen more words just to understand **this** definition. Damn."

Before she could go about doing so, the doorbell rang, signifying that someone was at the front door. The girl placed her book aside to go answer the door, but not before jiggling hilt of her weapon to loosen it inside the scabbard to ready herself for the smallest hint of conflict. "Who is it?"

There were some audible mumblings outside. Higgs took her time in approaching the door, and after unfastening the chain lock ever so gently, she opened the door with an abrupt wrench, startling the two girls outside waiting on the doorstep. Mentally kicking herself, she realized that she still hadn't lost some of her wary habits from Dimension X-103. Seeing them, the squire narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Hello. Who are you and what's your business?"

The request sounded polite enough, although Jackie got the eerie familiarity to the point in time when she'd been getting a passport. "Um… who are _you_?" she asked back, wondering why there was a strange new girl in Marco's house. Before Higgs could think of a sarcastic comeback, Janna's mind finally found the memory of the instance of when and where she'd seen this person before.

"Wait… 'Higgs', is it?" she asked unsurely. "I remember that you came knocking at the door looking for Marco at Star's birthday party-"

"That was _years_ ago," Sienna said with emphasis, "and I don't remember you."

"What?" Janna did something that she rarely did, and that was scratch her head in confusion, "it was only last December. But more importantly, that was on Mewni. On… Mewni…" Noticing her drop in tone, Jackie noticed that her companion had lapsed into deep thought. After realizing that the person was from Mewni (from all indications, even her clothing attire), Jackie's eyes widened. For the first time, she felt her mood spike as she became excited.

"You have dimensional scissors, don't you?"

"Um… duh?" Higgs said lamely. Before she could ask her earlier question again, the two girls introduced themselves properly and made it clear that they were Marco's friends. Higgs wasn't quite sure if that even meant that they could enter the house, yet they let themselves in anyway. She remained guarded as they made their way to Marco's bedroom; although the one that 'claimed' to have seen her (it was so long ago that she'd forgotten about ever seeing her) went up the stairs quietly, the other one was a bit inquisitive, especially about Star and the topic of her dimensional scissors.

Both topics weren't well received, and Higgs wished that the girl would take a hint from her silence that she didn't want to talk about it, especially with a complete stranger.

Janna knocked twice on the bedroom door and entered uninvited, catching Marco by surprise to some extent as he'd been expecting Higgs to enter. His face fell, "Oh, it's you two. What do you want this time? Preach to me? Or maybe try to trick me into going to a mental clinic?"

Higgs sighed as she listened to Marco's ramblings. "Friends do that to one another down here? Earth is weird…"

"Dude, we never did any of that!" Jackie protested. "Stop being so dramatic."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Janna added. "But since it's a boring ol' Sunday, we figured that we'd ask you to come along to a pizza party at Ferguson's house."

Marco raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "A pizza party? On a Sunday?"

"Pizza doesn't care which day of the week it is."

"Pass," Marco said boredly as he went back to packing his smallish duffel bag with miscellaneous toiletries; it'd been packed with his clothes for months for when he needed to leave at a moment's notice. 'I should probably carry some more underpants. I'm not gonna trust myself to wearing any more enchanted underwear from Quest Buy.' Locked in thought, he'd missed what Jackie had said and asked her to repeat it.

"C'mon, when was the last time you socialized? It'll be fun. Good music, all the pizza you can eat…"

"Bunch of people, weird shenanigans, getting into trouble with his parents, getting into arguments with people who've touched your pizza slice…"

Janna gave him an unfavorable look. "… You're so negative. Would it kill you to realize that-"

"Pizza party?" Sienna asked out of the blue. "I'm not quite sure what it is… but can _**I**_ come?"

…

The walk over to his old friend's house wasn't enthusiastic, especially given the fact that Marco didn't want to go in the first place.

It wasn't as if Marco hated socializing; rather, he was asocial because he merely preferred it that way nowadays. The last thing he wanted was to be mingling with people who'd long been looking at him with negative standpoints. For the most part, it was his fault-… of course, he knew about his own actions. He'd brought his disapproval and hatred of magic from Mewni with him, and lashed out against those who were ignorant of the things that had happened to him. He'd be better someday, he reasoned, after he finished his objectives and returned home.

As for now, however, he wanted to stay focused.

"You know…" Janna started after glancing behind her at the squire who was being 'taught' what pizza was by Jackie, "I bet you're only coming because your girlfriend is."

"She's not my girlfriend," Marco said easily as if he had rehearsed it, "she's a friend. That's all."

"Just like Star, hmm?" She noticed that the Diaz didn't react visibly, but the air did get a little tense. "Just like you did with Star, you tagged along with just because you don't want her being out on her own in a place she's not familiar with. It shows how much you care."

"I don't want her getting lost, much less hanging around with a couple of self-righteous girls. Not to mention, she does have to get home by a certain time."

"Papa's curfew? Looks like Marco's following da rules, hmm?" Janna lightly teased. Marco ignored it in favor of asking what the party would be like. He could tolerate some things to a certain degree, but if it was a home-wrecker of a party, he was returning home right then and there.

"Don't worry about it. After today, everything will be sorted out."

"Just from a _pizza party_? Your confidence isn't exactly contagious."

"And I hope your attitude isn't either. Get your mood out of the dumps and chill, man." Janna patted Marco on the back to show that she emphasized with him. "I know that we haven't exactly been supportive, but you've gotta understand that you're not really giving us a reason to be. The-"

"I'd rather not think about it anymore. I'm not sorry, you're not forgiving, so let's agree to disagree." They finally arrived at Ferguson's house, and Marco belayed the argument for a moment to listen carefully. "It seems pretty quiet for a party."

"It's about ready to start," Janna replied smoothly; she'd been expecting him to make that observation. "Just go on in." Taking her up on her suggestion, he walked up to the door, not even realizing that both she and Jackie had taken up places to stand just behind him. As he opened the front door, the first thing he realized was that the place was rather lacking in ambiance if it was supposed to be a party, or even in preparation. No chatter, no celebrations, no excitement, nothing. Furthermore, there was not a slice of pizza to be seen.

Only a group of people all seated in the living room, as if they had been waiting expectantly for him. They were all people he had 'lashed' out against, assorted friends and the like, and it didn't take a genius to figure what this was all about.

Marco looked at the intervention as if he was regarding a bear-trap.

"This is an intervention, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "Hell-no thank you." Marco turned on his heel and was about to make his exit even faster than he'd come, only to find the doorway blocked by Jackie and Janna. "Oh God, no."

"Marco, you've been at one of these before when Alphonso had _his_ problems," Jackie disputed, "so you of all people should know that this is a good thing."

"For starters," Marco replied crossly, "interventions don't necessarily work. He _still_ has those problems, just not in public. Secondly, interventions are for people _with_ problems."

"You're saying that you don't have one?"

"The problems exist," Marco grunted, "and I intend to fix them on my own." Without any warning, he muscled his way through the two girls in his way roughly before calling out to Higgs who'd been waiting on the front steps. "We're leaving."

"Leaving? But what about the pizza party?-"

"They tricked us! There was no pizza party. It was the equivalent of an ambush." Marco went off swiftly, and she had to make an effort to keep up with him.

"So what now, then?" Hardly had she asked this had she noticed the two girls running to catch up with them. "Oi, you two!" Sienna shouted, "Can't you two harpies go bother someone else?"

Janna didn't pay the squire any mind as she grabbed the Diaz by the arm as soon as she got within reach. "Hey, what was that? You're being so damn difficult, Marco! Can't you see that we're doing all of this for your sake?"

"You mean making a fool out of me? I don't need any more of that bullshit, thank you very much." Before she could ask what he meant, he continued. "Magic is my problem, a'right! Everyone up there, they've been abusing it for an eternity, and it's gonna be the death of all us… but when I told them about it, they ridiculed me, and humiliated me to lower than dust! They barred me from even having my own belongings, refused me any rights and treated me as if I belonged in a straitjacket!"

"But what about Star?" Jackie asked hesitantly. She'd been hoping that she'd be able to 'fix' Marco, once she was able to get to use the squire's scissors to get to her. "What about Star? She's your best friend, and she wouldn't-"

"She wouldn't? SHE WOULDN'T?! Oh, but she's so damn perfect, isn't she?!" Marco roared. "A fat lot of help I got from her! We've always had our differences, but the one time I expected her to support me just like I supported her, she **DIDN'T**! She's the one who thinks I turned into a whack-job, she helped to convince everyone that I belonged in a looney bin, and she's the one with the wand that's spitting out garbage magical spells every two minutes. Who's going to be the death of me, of you, of all of us?! Star Butterfly, that's who!"

The three girls could only stare as the Diaz allowed himself to fall unto the grass by the sidewalk, resting his head in his hands. It was obvious that he was crying, as they seeped between the cracks of his fingers, but even so, the crescents on his face began to glow radiantly in response to his emotions. "I know we had our fights, but we always got past them. We had our disagreements, but we always got to a compromise. I **loved** her!" he bawled. "I did everything humanly and inhumanly possible to look out for her best interests, and I stuck through thick and thin for _her_! I gave up everything I had, I groveled at the bottom of the social order like an idiot, I pledged my life to her, to the _princess_ who already had everything! We fought Ludo, we fought Toffee, Ms. Heinous and everything else the multiverse could throw at us...! But now… now we're _fighting each other_." His immense misery began to veer off into anger as he brushed away his tears in frustration. "And I intend to **win**."

The girls were horrified. "But I'm sure…" Janna's words died in her throat as he got back up, more in conviction than ever before. She tried to hold him back by the shoulder, but in a swift reflex, he grabbed her arm whilst turning on his heel swiftly and dash-stepped past her. In a single moment, he'd savagely kicked her legs at the ankles and forced her to her knees adjacent to him-… she barely even had the time to even look up before she saw his fist rapidly approaching her face with the force of a speeding truck.

His fist stopped just before it smashed into her temple. She didn't even blink-… she could only watch the Diaz wide-eyed as his hand dropped and he stepped backwards away from her. He'd finally come to see her for what she was _underneath_. She'd been hiding behind indifference and bravado for as long as he'd known her, and just this once, he'd seen that she was as vulnerable like everyone else.

"Sorry," he said plainly before he walked off without even so much as a backward glance. Sienna kept pace with him and left the two girls behind. They went back to his home quietly, no words passed between them. In fact, the awkward silence remained like that until he finished packing his duffel bag and just as he was finished and leaving his room, he bumped into his mother. Before he could say a word, the woman hugged her son tightly, as if she never wanted to let him go.

"So… you finally finished packing that bag?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled unintelligibly. "You knew-"

"I found it three months ago when I was cleaning your room. I always knew you intended to leave, but I never knew why."

"I'm gonna go save the Earth, mom. That's all." His mother laughed at his wit and kissed him on the forehead, before she finally released and looked him over, considering the young man that he was becoming. She saw a lot of his father in him, as much as herself. Even more so, she saw _Marco_ in him-… he was growing more and more into his own each and every day.

"And look good doing it, I presume?"

"…" He gave her an incredulous stare before he chuckled. "I always knew I got that from one of you guys. Anyway… I should probably go tell dad-"

"I'll tell him when he gets home, Marco. I won't keep you anymore. Come home soon?"

"I'll come home sooner," Marco replied with a smile as he started to walk past her with Higgs close at his heels. "Goodbye, Mom."

"Goodbye _mi hijo_."

That was all. Such few words, yet such poignant and understanding emotions. Sienna didn't feel much except for a bit of jealousy, as she'd never known her own mother. In fact, she was already hesitant to leave, and Marco took notice when they made it to his front porch. "What's wrong?"

Instead of this, Higgs answered to the suggestion that he'd offered that morning.

"I understand, Marco. Although to be frank, I think you're more than just a little crazy to be leaving all of this behind-… family, friends, a good comfortable house in a nice community. You're ready to leave all of this behind just to make yourself miserable and do what you think is right?"

"I _**know**_ it's right."

"You were asking me if I felt like checking out the multiverse. I realize now that you were testing me. I may be a squire, but I'm no lapdog that's gonna follow every dunce thing you say… but I'll stick with you." It wasn't hard for her to say… it felt rather appropriate, and Marco reacted favorably to it and thanked her. "Don't worry about it. I'm your friend, and I'll help you… even if I think you're a damned idiot."

Marco grinned to himself in understanding as he took out his dimensional scissors and opened up a portal. "On occasion. Let's go."

* * *

 **Well, I reckon that's it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As for the chapter title:**

 **Xenophile- A person who loves foreign things, people and culture.**

 **It was basically Higgs in this chapter, and I guess she was a bit like Star because of it, sans magic. I used it to help flesh out her character a wee bit more, as well as exploit it for a few attempts at humor, so I hope it was well received. As for what I said in the last chapter about Hekapoo, I meant that her relationship with Marco was what I'd work on next; sorry if you thought I meant that she'd show up in this chapter.**

 **Well, senpai? How was it?**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	11. DemiGoddess

**Vestiges**

 **Checklist:**

 **Marco's Emotions - check.  
Marco's Strengths - check.  
Marco's Cynical nature to others - check.  
Higgs now has full Character Depth - check.  
Elaboration as to why EVERYTHING is happening- check.**

 **11.**

Star looked at the sentient version of herself on the board game remain in one corner. In the past, she had played this board game with Marco back on earth; those happy days without a care, they'd both play the game, one by the rules, and the other without them. Now, the princess could only stare at her lone game character sit unenthusiastically by itself, an exact copy of the original. Aside from how the magic of the board created a life-like representation of her, she had to admit that the board captured her likeness well.

"Am I a bad person?" Star asked aloud to the game character.

'Mini' Star looked up from where it was seated, and the princess could've sworn that the game character nodded in response, all with a sullen, yet accusatory expression on its face. Seeing this, Star's mood plummeted even more. It was true, she told herself. She _was_ a bad person, a bad friend. She'd been trying to make decisions, the best ones, in order to salvage the best outcome. Instead, all she'd done had caused Marco to be banished back to his home, moreover without any of his belongings that he'd gained on Mewni, not to mention the things that had been his before. Even worse, she'd even had access to his belongings multiple times while in his room, yet she'd failed to do what she felt was right.

The key to the room was lost, and she was too afraid to admit to those in authority that she'd lost it. But why would she want the key-… only to retreat from them into the room once more? To avoid their questions as to Marco's habits and ways of thinking? To dodge her responsibilities when the pressure increased? To steer clear of those who demanded an audience with the princess to query about the events of the Bash to unite the societies of Mewmans and Monsters?

She _was_ a bad person, wasn't she?

The room felt darker and blurrier all of sudden as her eyes filled up with tears. Never, never before had she felt so lonely. She was the princess of Mewni, friends in gaggles, a boyfriend who was readily present whenever she hailed for him, servants at her beck and call, and parents who looked out for her. Yet these were friends who seemingly judged her for her stance, the boyfriend who had his own obligations in his dimension, servants who whispered about her behind her back, and parents who burdened her with 'responsible' upbringing. Those that she could ask for help, Glossaryck or even Eclipsa, weren't available. The first was bereft of his mind, and the latter was under increased guard ever since Marco's arbitration by the Magic High Commission.

Star-… the center, the pearl of Mewni …-yet utterly desolate and alone.

The tears in her eyes caused the world to haze like an abstract painting. In a bid to regain herself, she thought back to the root of the issue. The root of _her_ issues.

"Am I a bad friend, Marco?" she asked dismally as if she were about to break into pieces.

Just as she was about to try to wipe the proof of sorrow from her eyes, she saw a splotch of red pass by her open doorway in the hallway. It was the exact shade of red that Marco's sweater had, and without even thinking as to the backwards logic of Marco never being able to return to Mewni in the first place, she got up and ran to the doorway and looked up and down the long corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

There was nothing to be seen except for the empty hallway. She even wiped her eyes in an effort to clear her vision to make sure that she wasn't missing anything. There was no Marco, no one, nothing with even a hint of red.

But she had been so sure that it was him. In any case, something should've been there, something that was red.

Instead, there was nothing.

"…Marco?"

…

"I'm not crazy."

"Ain't no problem, B-Fly. Crazy is fun! It's just that your version of crazy is the kind that gets people into problems. Like how it did for Marco-"

"Of course!" Star shouted, nearly in a frenzy. "Just like it did for Marco! I see him everywhere, Pony Head! I see him in the halls, outside my window, even here in my bedroom! Just like how Glossaryck used to do when he died!"

Pony Head shook her head as she floated. "Just like… who? Glossaryck?" She looked at the mystical being curled up and sleeping in a chair, absentmindedly scratching himself behind his ear with his foot like a dog. "You're not making any sense. One… that blue guy's crazy, and it sounds like you're trying to drive on the same street as he is. Two… Marco's not here, not in the castle, not outside your window, not even on _Mewni_. He doesn't even have his dimensional scissors, girl! How's he supposed to even come back?!"

"I dunno!" Star yelled as she tugged on her frazzled hair. "I'm stressing out already with my duties, and me seeing Marco isn't helping things! I see him everywhere, and even when I don't see him, I feel like he's always just leaving where I'm headed to, always just one step ahead of me, always behind every corner! I even feel like he's been in my _room_ at night…"

"If I had a tape recorder… and you could hear yourself… girl, if you're not crazy, you're not far. I hope you haven't told anyone else about this."

"Stop talking as if I've lost my mind!"

"That's because you _have_ lost your mind," Pony Head said calmly, not allowing herself to be intimidated by the wily behavior of her best friend. "First off, it's impossible for Marco to get here; one does not simply _walk_ from Earth to get to Mewni, and his scissors are locked up in his room! Even if he could teleport with or without them, do you think that the M.H.C would even allow him to do it! If after all of that and he IS here on Mewni, then how could he make it so that you're the only one who sees and knows that he's here and no one else has even seen him? Do you know why? It's because you're _hallucinating_. Marco… is… not… here…"

"But-"

"But nothing, Star. You need to get over whatever feelings you have about him, and move on."

"I _can't_."

Pony Head raised an eyebrow as she floated closer, staring Star in the eyes. "Can't, or won't?"

"Both," the Butterfly admitted. "I know it sounds crazy. You're the only person I can talk to about this. I know that I've been through a rough patch. I might sound crazy, look crazy. But I'm _not_." The distraught princess got unto her bed and allows herself to sag backwards onto the pillows. "I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't even cast my spells properly… it feels like he's messing with me… maybe he _wants_ me to think I'm losing my mind, or make me look like I am."

"Why? You sound as if this is revenge or something."

Star didn't say anything more about that topic. Instead, she heaved herself up to plead her case, only to see the subject of her thoughts seated on the window sill. As was his traditional attire, Marco was in his red sweater and skinny jeans, but his face was bland in emotion, save for his now cold green eyes. They were bitter as if full of nothing but hatred of her. Her breath caught in her throat as he tapped his index finger on his lips as if shushing her to keep quiet about his presence. Star's eyes widened in recognition that he was completely in her viewpoint, not some vestige of a deranged imagination. She pointed excitedly at him and yelled at Pony Head, whose back had been turned and had been completely oblivious of his presence.

"THERE HE IS!"

As soundless and quick as a shadow, the figure leaned backwards out of the window and fell out, wholly disappearing from sight before Pony Head could even catch a glimpse. Almost barreling her friend aside, Star made a mad dash to the window, wildly looking out but saw nothing. When Pony Head got to the window and reached her final conclusions, Star knew that she was completely discredited.

"He was JUST HERE! Sitting here in the window!"

"… Star…"

"Please believe me!" Star begged, almost at the point of tears as she pleaded to her friend, "I **know** he's here. He's here! I swear, he was just here!" Pony Head mumbled to herself about her best friend's issues before flying out through the window to check all around, just to confirm that she hadn't made a mistake. Seeing that there wasn't a trace of the Diaz to be found, she merely cautioned the Butterfly to 'take it easy', before leaving her be. All alone now, Star took a seat by the window, looking out through it until she'd finally fallen asleep from exhaustive stress. It'd been late evening when Pony Head had left, and when she woke up, night had descended like ink spilling over the sky. The nighttime sky served to remind her of much time had passed, and how much time it had taken her to reach a decision, even subconsciously in her sleep.

"I know that he's here," she muttered. "I know it." Moving to the center of the room, she eased the mat aside with her foot to reveal a trap door which she opened. Reaching into the space beyond, she retrieved her 'Book of Spells' (her notebook) that she had been trying to fill with spells from memory or those taught to her from her mother. It was getting to be crammed with incantations and assorted journal entries, but she needed only one spell from it, she comprehended, as she closed the trap door again.

It was a bit of a shame. She thought that she'd know the words by now, as it'd been a long time since she'd used the spell. Flipping through the book until she found the entry, she then read it to memorize the words and picked up her wand.

This was it.

" _I summon the All-Seeing Eye_ …" Already, she felt a lump form in her throat as she whispered the spell, and her cheek-hearts began to glow in response to the magic. "… _to tear a hole into the sky._ _Reveal to me that which is hidden. Unveil to me what is forbidden!_ " Instantly, a green vista shone from the wand, revealing a scene through a sight-portal. First, she tried to spy on his room on Earth, just to see if Marco was there. Hoping against hope that he'd be there since it should be night hours at his home, she peered around the room, but the room was devoid of anyone there.

"Where… where is he?"

Afraid now, she decided to just search for Marco by his persona, rather than general locations. She didn't find him immediately, but soon she saw that she was looking at herself.

"What the… why's it showing my room…?" Looking closer, she saw that she was indeed looking at her own figure from behind. She glanced behind her reflexively as if expecting to see Marco (but didn't), before returning her attention back to the portal. She questioned herself as to why the spell would show her room when she was searching for Marco, but no answers came as she continued to stare at herself looking at the sight-portal.

Then, like a creeping horror, a shadow seemingly detached itself from one of her darker walls and approached her silently, the portal clearly showing that he was stalking after her from behind. In alarm, she turned just in time to see the form reveal arms and legs from its seamless robes, attacking her in a sudden bout of unarmed combat. Bringing up her wand to cast an offensive spell, she was too slow as the wand was chopped out of her hands.

"Agh!" Not about to be deterred, she brought up her fists to hopefully land a punch of her own, but her assailant blocked them easily, and almost at the same time, cuffed her shoulder with a palm so hard that it half-turned her. As she stumbled, the person grabbed her around the neck from behind with the inside of his elbow and pinned her arms with his other hand. Already gasping for air, the princess struggled to escape the hold, but it was much too secure, and the attacker much too strong. She tried to muster a kick, but after weathering it on his shins, the attacker stepped backwards and half-knelt, bringing her down to sit on her ass before him.

She was utterly overpowered.

"I have to ask… how's it feel to be labeled as the ' _crazy'_ person, hmm?" the attacker asked condescendingly.

Star grated to talk, but her attacker barely allowed her decent leeway enough to breathe, let alone to speak. "… _Marco?_ What… are… nnng...you… _doing_? Can't… _breathe…_ "

Marco ignored her appeals for breathing. "You didn't even last a good week, yet you had me written off as crazy for more than a month."

"I did that …to… protect _you_ …!" Marco, apparently, didn't like what he heard and subsequently tightened his hold on her neck. He felt neutral when he heard her gasps and felt her feeble struggles for him to ease up on his grip, yet he slackened up all the same. He wasn't done with her, not yet. "Marco… _please_ …"

"SHUT… UP." Marco whispered sternly. "You're the powerful princess, aren't you? Dependent on magic almost to the point that you can't even help yourself without it. But that's not what I'm focused on, oh no. I heard what you told Pony Head. You could've forgotten about me, leave me abandoned without my things. But you didn't have to make an enemy out of _me_!"

"I'm… your… friend!" Tears were brimming up in her eyes, threatening to fall, not simply because of the physical pain, but from the emotional one as well. "I'm… your… _**best**_ … _friend_!"

"Oh, sure. You've been about as friendly to me as a kick to the head. But instead of even taking the time to visit me on Earth, you chose to use the _All Seeing Eye Spell_. I knew that you would use that spell if I made you paranoid enough… but didn't you know? Spying leads to _crying_."

"You wanted me… to… spy on… you?" It was all that he allowed her to say before he constricted on her neck for the last time, pressing down on the carotid arteries of her neck as well as closing off her air passageways. Her attempts to struggle free would've hurt him psychologically if he had been his old self, but now, it was all impartial. Spots danced in her tunnel vision; too late, she thought of transforming into her Butterfly state, but her blood-starved brain finally succumbed to unconsciousness as her blue eyes lidded shut. " _Marco… no_ …" she wheezed faintly.

Then she was gone.

With a small grunt of acknowledgment, Marco released his hold to pick up her limp body. Although she was almost as big as himself size-wise, he lifted her easily and rested her on her bed, making sure that she would lie comfortably, before covering her with the sheets. The wand was the next thing he picked up; regarding it for a moment, he then placed it on the bedside table and began to leaf through her book of spells.

" _ **Hmm… do I detect a hint of sensitivity?"**_

"Of course you don't," Marco whispered in response. Of course, he could speak to his inner inhabitant in his mind, but it felt more comfortable to speak somewhat out loud. "No sensitivity, no mercy."

" _ **Although the conflict was short, you didn't even use a closed fist. Yet you allowed her to do so."**_

"I couldn't afford to leave any marks or bruises on her. She'll wake up and she'll think that this is all a dream. Even if she doesn't, she won't have any proof, and she'll look and act as if she's lost her mind," Marco replied with a grin.

" _ **Interesting,"**_ Appendaxuz stated, _**"you're making her look mentally unstable as she did to you? I don't believe that was just out of retribution and revenge."**_

"No, it wasn't." Marco finally found what he was looking for-… the map of the locations that Star had been sleep-portaling through, the very same map that Hekapoo had made when tracking the Butterfly. "I couldn't find this map at first, but it made sense that she would keep it in her amateur book of spells. I couldn't find the book either, but I realized that she would use the _All Seeing Eye Spell_ to find out where I was, instead of coming to see me herself. She's been a bit of a coward when it comes to things like that."

" _ **Ah,"**_ Appendaxuz said with pride and delight, _**"And when she went to consult the book for the incantation, she led you right to it. Well played."**_ Marco nodded to the compliment before he used his phone to take several pictures of the map before inserting it back in the book, which then was returned to its rightful place. Once he was sure that everything was properly restored, he went through the window and making his way down carefully from the great height by using niches and wide cracks, climbed down safely. Once on the ground, he dashed off into the night, heading straight to the local speakeasy.

The illicit drinking establishment wasn't very well known, and so it wasn't patronized by the knights and upper echelon of Mewni, only by the poorer folk in the village. He drew more eyes than he would've cared for; it was expected from the seamless black robes he specifically wore to camouflage himself with the shadows of the night. His face was hooded, however, and his concealed face was what counted. With that in mind, he approached a lone girl at a table by herself, drinking her mystery beverage in sips. He knew her well, yet found it hard to recall her features as every time he thought he would see her face, it would be conveniently obscured by a shadow that the lone lantern of the bar failed to reach.

"This light isn't flattering you." His greeting was curt, but the light was fortunately just enough to light up the grin she gave him in response.

"You're hiding your face too."

"You've been here long?"

"Not as long as it would've been if I had waited for you in Hekapoo's dimension. Remember that half of a minute equals one year where she's living. I've been sitting here for fifteen minutes. I don't think you'd like working with a fifty-odd-year-old woman, since you gave me so much sass about it before."

"I've gotten over it. Don't fret about it, Sienna, age is just a number," he admonished gently. "Did you get the fuse from the Ward?"

For the first time, Higgs revealed her face fully for only a second as she leaned forward. "Yeah. Took me a while to dig it out of the Ward tower, given the many _distractions_. The princesses over at that has-been fancy boarding school were throwing a nonstop party… celebrating their _heroine_ Princess Turdina." She smiled humorously when she saw him face-palm himself out of embarrassment, before shaking his head.

"Keep it to yourself. I don't want Hekapoo catching wind about that." Higgs shrugged in response before she finished her drink and got up, snipping open a portal as she did so.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to impress her."

"If I didn't know any better," Marco replied, "I'd think you were jealous." He entered the portal with her before it closed behind them. Now inside a fair room of an Inn (in another dimension altogether), Higgs made a beeline for the shower while Marco went to get some food, and the roles exchanged once both of them were finished with their own upkeep. They were soon ready for bed; they'd both had a tiring day, and Marco was about to go to sleep on a makeshift pallet on the floor as per the usual. Before he could do so, Higgs grabbed him by the wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"Goin' to bed. Isn't it obvious?" he deadpanned.

Higgs beckoned to the bed with her free hand. "On the ground? Again? I really don't mind if we share the bed. It's big enough for us to share."

"What you call 'fat'… is what I call 'personality'. I've got plenty of it." The squire merely looked at the boy's stout frame; even now, his face even lacked almost all of its baby fat as his jaw had begun to get squared.

"No, you don't." He put a half-assed effort to keep her from dragging him into the bed and failed as she easily pulled into it, she herself getting onto the other side. Looking over at the teen who lied somewhat stiffly close to the edge away from her, she clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Relax. I'm not gonna bite you or anything. Isn't the bed more comfortable than the thin sponge on the ground?"

"It is," he whispered as he allowed his taut nerves to loosen up. "Did you just ask or _tell_ me to get into bed with you?" She blushed at his accusation and instead turned away from him.

"I was **telling** you. Don't over-think it… go to sleep. We've got to go see Hekapoo early in the morning." Marco grunted in response as he lied on his back, relishing the feel of the bed. It'd been a little more than a week since he lay in one last, that of his own bed back on Earth. Whilst trying to ignore that Sienna might've had some ulterior reason to trying to get him into bed besides wishing for his own comfort, he thought back to the assault he'd done his former best friend.

"That was a warning, Star," he muttered, "and next time, I just might use a closed fist."

" _ **And after THAT?"**_ Appendaxuz asked.

"After that… well, Higgs got me my sword back. Enough said."

Inside Marco's mind, Appendaxuz nodded grimly to himself. In a sudden lapse, he smiled a shark-like grin as his form seemed to break apart into formless darkness. Truly, the time that Marco had spent on Earth had not gone to waste. In his amendments, Marco strength and mind had improved even as his own inner resident gained control and knowledge as to how to manipulate his emotions and deaden his conscience and ability to feel guilt. Some facets were easily allowable, and it helped to make sure that Marco believed that it was he himself truly in control. But at last, unlike his previous pawns in the past such as Eclipsa and even Toffee, he'd found the perfect vessel to carry out his work. By the time the iniquity allowed himself to laugh in ominous jubilee, Marco was already fast asleep.

* * *

Hekapoo looked up in slight startlement when she heard a portal open up in the area where she considered her living room. Regarding it for a moment, she watched as the adult version of Marco and Higgs stepped through before the latter closed the portal behind them. "Hey, Hekapoo!" Marco greeted. "Are you busy?"

"Oh no. I only have to be the Scissors-Forger and Enforcer of Interdimensional Travel for the entire multiverse. Nothing much."

"You know, sarcasm isn't very attractive," Marco chided as he watched Higgs leave them alone to speak privately. "It was only a simple question."

"Sarcasm's an allergic response to dumb questions," Hekapoo replied, almost in a light tease. To this, Marco sighed, musing whether or not she spoke to him like this because he upset her.

"Do you hate me?"

"No… but I wish you'd stop coming to see me. It's already bad enough that I'm not reporting that you have your scissors and you're running around unchecked. It's going to make me look worse when the truth finally comes out and the others even find out that you've been coming here often."

"Not that I'm not grateful that you haven't reported me, you need to get off the fence and decide which side you're on."

"Mm… hmm…" She smiled somewhat mischievously before she withdrew a pair of handcuffs from a belt and tossed them to the man standing before her. "Alright. I've been saving these cuffs just for you. Put them on. I'm taking you to Omnitraxus and Rhombulus so they can sort you out."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Marco protested as he permitted himself to take a seat on her couch. "Don't do anything rash. I need some help." Feeling her intense stare as she sat beside him, he shrugged. "Alright, fine. I need a **lot** of help."

Hekapoo frowned. "So you want me to help you… the very same guy who's gonna slit magic's throat? Just because I haven't turned you in doesn't mean I've taken a liking to your cause. Everything I've done revolved around magic for thousands of years and will do continue to do so for thousands more. You expect me to turn my back on all of that?"

"After I'm done with this magic problem… you'll have time to do everything else besides _work_."

"It's my purpose, Marco." Hekapoo said simply. "It's why I exist. I wasn't born for this, born to choose. I was _made_ for this. Now tell your girlfriend to stop raiding my fridge, and the both of you can leave before I change my mind about keeping quiet."

Marco ignored her bluff. He'd come to realize a little while back that she had a decent amount of care for him, and wouldn't turn him in to the Magic High Commission. He had the same consideration for her as well, although he wished that she'd help him. Granted, he'd never even expected to see her this flexible as she was a stern person, though he needed her co-operation. He thought of begging her while using the pet-name he had for her, but thought the better of it. The last thing he needed was a kick to the face-… there was no telling what she'd do if he pissed her off.

"I need to get to the Wellspring. You need to stop contributing to the Apocalypse." Marco said in complete seriousness.

" **You** need to stop talking out of your ass, that's what you need to do. _**I**_ need to get back to work." Getting up to go do just that, she was belayed as Marco stopped her by resting his hand on her shoulder. "Muscles, I-"

"I understand. I won't force you of all people to do something you're not comfortable with. Just by being neutral to me, you've been more helpful to me than a lot of people, especially those I thought were my friends." He stood up slowly, his eyes not leaving her own. "I'm not gonna lie to you… this isn't a black-and-white situation, and each side has pros and cons. There's good and bad on both sides."

"Your side? Who's 'good' on _your_ side?" Hekapoo asked unsurely.

"Higgs is 'good'," he said bluntly.

"And what about **you**?"

"There's no safe way to answer that."

"And…?" Hekapoo pressed on. "Who else is 'good' on your side, hmm?"

Marco took a deep breath to steady himself, gently squeezing her shoulder affectionately. "Hekapoo, you are. You're 'good', and you're on the right side. More than anybody else, I wouldn't want a kickass, beautiful goddess to be my enemy."

Hekapoo cocked her head slightly sideways curiously, yet smiling in appreciation of his compliment. "It's _demi_ goddess-… flattery will get you nowhere." To this, Marco remained silent as he waited for her to continue. "This is asking a lot, Marco."

"I don't want to cause any more trouble for you-"

"It's too late for that."

Marco shook his head, deciding to dub her with his warmhearted name after all. " _Pretty please, H-P-…_ " Before he could even finish, Hekapoo quickly shushed him with a finger on his lips before he could call her by the nickname he had for her.

"Shh-shh-shhh! Don't call me _that_ …!"

He kept quiet, silently looking into her large expressive eyes with his own pleading ones.

"Fine. I'll help you this once, okay?" Finally removing her forefinger, she turned to face away from him before he could see her cracks, her vulnerability. She'd already crumbled before he'd even finished calling her by her affectionate name, yet there was one small part of her-… the part that was beating furiously in her chest-… that regretted not allowing him to fully say it. That part of her liked the name… _a lot._

She tried to suppress it, but there was no way to stop a heart and keep on living.

* * *

 **So I asked a couple of people for opinions, and plot-drama won out over Hekapoo romanticism in today's chapter focus. Nonetheless, despite the difficulty of getting Hekapoo out of the neutral zone (romantic-wise and support-wise for Marco's cause), I tried to** _ **concentrate**_ **their interaction, and cement her feelings. There'll be more of the two in the next chapter if my plot-line remains as undeterred as it's been so far.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and happy Valentine's Day when it comes. Or if you're stressed/lazy and need a holiday in the middle of the week… happy Ash Wednesday.**

 **Valete!**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	12. Wetworks

**Vestiges**

 **It's been a while.**

 **12.**

Hekapoo took the map from Marco's outstretched hand and unfurled it over a cleared table. "So you actually found it, huh? I thought you lost it."

"Yeah, well… I found it," Marco said lamely, hoping that she wouldn't ask him to explain how. The last thing he wanted right now was to explain to her how he had assaulted the princess.

"Hmm…" She gazed at him a little longer, noting how he'd become a bit uncomfortable. It was suspicious but she decided not to press the issue. By the time she looked down, however, she realized that she was looking at a printed copy of the map, and not the original thing-… all bets were off. "Alright…. Okay… why the _hell_ did you give me a copy? I thought you got the real thing!"

"Look… I couldn't really move the real one from where it was, so I got a copy. It's the same thing, isn't it?"

Hekapoo bristled in growing anger. "That map was a **confidential** document for you and the princess! Only the two of you knew about it...! Makes me wonder what the hell you could've done just so that you could only make a copy. What did you do to Star?"

"I put her to sleep," he said blankly. "Then I made a copy of the map so one would know that I stole it."

"…The fuck?" Higgs was in shock from hearing about something like this for the first time, "the princess is _**dead**_?!" Even now, Hekapoo was already reaching for her own weaponized scissors, something that Marco noticed. Feeling anxious that he'd have to fight her, Marco explained that he meant what he said _literally_. It took a bit longer to sort that mess out… Hekapoo _was_ a hot-head, after all, Marco thought with a sigh.

"A'right, eyes and ears only. I didn't mean for anyone else besides me to use the map, so it's got no key and no labeling. And before you start bitching about how it looks like gibberish, it kinda is… I tend to use shorthand a lot."

"Huh…. Hekapoo's lazy… I learned something today…" Marco mumbled under his breath. Feeling a hot glare for his social misstep, he recalled that she'd told him to listen and not to speak. "Sorry, Hekapoo." It didn't help matters when he heard Higgs imitated the whiplash sound, making him blush a bit to himself. 'Damn it, I'm NOT whipped…"

Hekapoo's glare lessened. "Right. Anyway, when I think about the multiverse, think of the dimensions stacking on top of one another, metaphysical plains that stack one over the next, then another, then another, then another. I can look at this flat two-dimensional map and understand it, but maybe a three-dimensional map might be more your type-"

"Nope… just keep explaining."

"Fine. Star was portaling each time through the same locations, trying to get to the final target… all of these arrows are just attempts… or she was touched in the head, 'cause she kept getting sidetracked into going to the Goblin Dawg truck. She eventually got to the spot that I guessed she was trying to get to, and that's how I tracked her. I tracked her to here." She traced her finger along an arrow and pointed at a circle which represented the portal.

"But that was just one portal along the way," Marco argued. "She was traveling to a specific place way farther than that."

"I was getting to that. She kept portaling after I distinctly remember you telling me that the both of you would handle her problem..."

"Touchy," Marco grumbled when he head her backhanded insult.

"In the end, she started opening a bunch of portals. I started to close them on my own, but after a while, they started to get into a set of multiverses I like to call 'No Man's Land'. Nasty set of dimensions that are full of unnatural creatures, nastier than that flying squid-thing you punched in the eye, and ten times more resilient and violent. Portals don't stay open there for even more than a few seconds out there, and that's if they open up at all."

"That sounds like security," Higgs remarked. "As if someone doesn't want anyone and everyone to open portals out there. But it sounds like it's supposed to keep you out too?"

"That's not what she meant," Marco said to Higgs before he turned to Hekapoo. "She meant that the trail went cold because Star's portals closed off on their own while she was passing through there. Do you at least remember how you got to the last few portals?"

Hekapoo shrugged. "Not really. I didn't call to mind that it'd be important later. Besides, I already know how to get to No Man's Land, so does it matter?"

"It does. We need a _specific_ route of portals to get to the siphon. Maybe that's why Star had so little trouble, and you still had some problems."

"If I had to say, it wasn't exactly a specific route-… Star was merely going through all the dimensions in a linear order. Furthermore, Star can fly, so you can't blame me for having problems. In No Man's Land, the ground itself isn't actually that easy to walk on, and that's when it even exists. Everything's warped as hell. Physics doesn't apply, logic doesn't follow and law is lawless. Ten dimensions comprise No Man's Land, and each one gets worse than the last as you keep going higher. If I had to describe No Man's Land… obviously, I'd say that no one is supposed to be there or GO there. Maybe it's ANOTHER incentive to your ever-growing list of reasons to go back home."

Marco shook his head fervently. "No. Hell no, in fact. I'm going to deal with that Wellspring, Hekapoo!" Just like that, however, she remembered who she was talking to, and what his aims were. With nary another word, she walked away from him in a beeline-…hardly had she made it through the door, he was close at her heels. Sienna watched the both of them out of concern and worry, but she soon dismissed them, figuring that there were only a few differences to settle between them.

"It's not as if they're embroiled in any drama or anything," she commented lowly before she picked up the sandwich that she had pilfered from Hekapoo's refrigerator. Taking a bite and chewing it, she had to spit it out as soon as a fiery taste hit her tongue. "Damn! What the hell is that, a friggin' pepper sandwich?!" Lifting one slice of bread off of the sandwich, she stared in incredulity as she saw that the only thing between the slices was sliced peppers which were lavished in hot sauce. "Does she have a pepper fetish or something? Geez!"

…

Marco, (for reasons he still didn't know), had followed after Hekapoo, even through a portal that she had opened up to a tavern. He saw himself revert to his teen form, but he didn't dwell on that. Instead, he merely closed the portal behind him with his own scissors and went inside the tavern. It was only on the inside that he recognized it as the same establishment that he used to frequent with Hekapoo after successfully closing Star's portals.

The demigoddess herself sat up at the bar counter, and he approached her to take a seat by her side. The barkeeper took their orders, and while he was fulfilling it, Hekapoo turned her head slowly to look at the teen. "Aren't you a little strapped for time? I figured that you're always running late for something… somewhere else."

Marco ignored the underhanded suggestion for him to leave her alone, recalling that he used to be hard-pressed for time during their associations. "Nah, not right now. I've got some time. Been a while since we hung out, huh?"

"…"

"Awkward silence… good stuff…" Marco muttered. They remained silent and soon after, the barkeeper came and placed their orders down. Remarkably, it was the exact same order that was reminiscent of the last one they had shared the night before Hekapoo had confronted Marco about Star's nightly escapades. They began to indulge in their victuals-… one of ice cream and the other of an alcoholic volcanic brew-… before they realized that they hated the quiet.

"What did I do to piss you off this time?" Marco said at last.

"It's not what you did, Muscles. It's what you're going to do."

"You mean the Wellspring, right?"

"Yeah."

"Ah. I know that this is still bumming you out, about me trying to break some fantastic aspect of your heritage and beliefs, but I guess that I'll find some way to make sure you don't suffer any backlash. That NO one suffers any backlash."

"Says the guy that declared war on the Magic High Commission," the demigoddess stated with a deepening frown. "Make up your mind."

"Oh, but I have. What I'm saying is that I don't want any bloodshed after I do what I need to. But the road to get there will probably get crimson because of anyone standing in my way."

Hekapoo took a swig of her brew, barely allowing herself to relish the alcohol in it, no matter how much she really wanted to. "You're willing to kill people to get there?"

There was no hesitation forthcoming with his answer. "I am _very_ willing. I've already been set back too much."

"What if _**I**_ stood in your way?" Hekapoo asked quietly. Instead, this time, he had no response and she took it into careful consideration. "I'm not gonna lie, Marco. I like you. You're the first human that isn't like a human. You're abnormal."

"I'm not normal…? I'll take that as a compliment…?" he said unsurely. "I like you too, Hekapoo. A real shame that we might have to fight soon."

"Yeah, a real fuckin' shame." By now, the awkwardness had fled as a weird sort of camaraderie and bond formed between them both. Each knew not the extent of the feelings they had for one another, and furthermore, they themselves did not know. But if one thing was certain, it was that they clearly had no wishes of fighting one another when the time came, yet, they knew that it'd happen sooner or later. Each stood in the way of the other, and the choice was to either stand aside out of the other's way, join each other, or to have conflict.

Hekapoo knew fear. She knew fear when she'd been produced. She knew fear when she fought her first transgressor of dimensional traveling. She knew fear when Toffee and his armies were assaulting Mewni. Yet again, she could feel its pang as she realized that the lad beside her had accumulated a great store of strength, and despite his appearance, presented a legitimate threat to the M.H.C. and anyone who supported them. While she wasn't of the belief that he could conquer them, she was actually afraid that he'd perish.

"I'm not immortal, Marco, but I've lived for a long time."

"My mom said that I should never talk to a woman about her age."

Hekapoo chuckled in good humor. "You're smart for taking her advice. But that's not the point. I've spent a long time alone until people start to pop up all over the dimensions, and even longer before they started even becoming worth a damn. A few stood out over the years, but their lifespans are like a momentary breath to me."

"What're you getting at?"

"All of us are going to die someday, and we're the lucky ones. We… more specifically, _you_ , shouldn't be trying to shorten our own lives by taking on suicidal quests with zero future and gain, especially when there are other beings that probably never even had a chance to even be born."

"That sounds kinda hypocritical, considering your challenge."

"Having dimensional scissors is a VERY high privilege, Marco. But I hope you understand what I'm saying." The demigoddess said into her glass as she began to drink it again. Yet in that same vein, there was another underlying message, one that she herself was all too aware of-… the realization that she didn't want to bond too closely with Marco mainly because of the difference of their lifespans, instead of their responsibilities.

He didn't know this, of course.

"I'm not gonna stop. Even still, I'm glad to know that you care. But… small question… do you like me just because of the muscles?" he asked mischievously.

"I'm not shallow. Anyway, I don't want you coming around to my place anymore, not unless you're turning yourself in."

"That means no more help either, am I right?" Marco asked tentatively. Seeing her shake her head, he looked down in disappointment. "I see." He then turned to the barkeeper to pay for their orders and asked him for the cost.

"Lemme see… the ice cream's for one 'yarm', and the liquor fire goes for forty 'w'. You from Earth? Right, right… I guess after converting the currency, that'll turn up to be six hundred and forty-nine dollars."

"Un-freaking-believable." Marco paid the man all the money he carried on him before telling him to keep the change. With a small laugh, the barkeeper told him that he didn't even have change that small anyway. "Later, H-poo."

Unexpectedly, she didn't rile at the nickname, but she took it in stride. "You get THAT for free. But I'm back on the clock now, and I'm a member of the M.H.C."

He understood.

"You've getting a headstart. You'd better not be here when I turn around." Facing away from him, she then proceeded to drain her glass while counting the seconds slowly in her head. A minute later, however, she turned around to see that he was long gone, and she allowed her small smile to grow. "Nah… _**I**_ get that for free… although I shouldn't get attached… You'll be lost in the centuries like everyone else. I'll be left alone again with only the memories…" Hekapoo's demeanor became crestfallen. "We're better off not getting closer, right? Not just for your sake, but also for mine…"

The longer and longer she lived, the more she disliked of having to live so long. The people worth getting to know only ended up in her past, and the last thing she wanted was to have yet another person added to the emotional maelstrom.

"Oh geez. I'm already too attached, aren't I?"

…

"…" Marco watched as Higgs sat forlornly around the table with a half-drunk glass of water in her hands. "I didn't find you at Hekapoo's place, but surprise-surprise, you're back at the inn. What's the matter with you? Is it that time of the month?"

Sienna glared daggers at him. "I bit into a frickin' sandwich made with peppers, that's what."

"Sorry I asked. Although I thought you'd know better than eat anything at Hekapoo's place. She loves the spice of life if you know what I mean. Anyway, we'd better get going. She can't really help us, at least, not anymore."

"Can't… or won't?"

"Both."

Higgs fumed silently to herself. "Back at square one? Was this just a waste of time?"

Marco shook his head. "This wasn't a waste of time. We found out the direction we're going. I've been doing some thinking, and I think I know where to go. Makes a bizarre amount of sense, now that I think about it. The multiverse, just like Hekapoo said, is a stack. Think of it like a pyramid. We're close to the bottom… you can think of Hell as the lowest foundation. It always has been, after all. But the Wellspring is at the very top. The reason No Man's Land is messed up is probably because of the Wellspring's influence on it… it's most likely the section of the multiverse that's the closest to it, just below the top."

"Go on," Sienna urged.

"The reason we can't teleport right straight to the Wellspring or its entrance portal is because No Man's Land is causing too much interference… that, or some other unknown reason, but I'm sticking to my theory."

"So what? We climb the ladder of the multiverse?" Sienna asked.

"It's still not that easy. We need a frickin' picture or mental image of each dimension in turn to actually be able to go up to the Wellspring; that's the general rule about using dimensional scissors. You're only able to go where you've been, or where you can see. But the reason Star got there so easily is because she was flying above the chaos, and she was probably following some hard-wired mental compass or something."

"And we're shit out of luck, 'cause we don't have that. What's our next move?"

Marco paused a while as if listening to his inner tenant. "Appendaxuz is telling me to go have a word with Eclipsa about No Man's Land. He said something about her having experience with magic there."

Sienna sighed deeply. "Fine then, if it gets us any closer." Her mood was a bit low, but upon recollecting her next engagement, she allowed herself a smile. Marco soon noticed and queried as to why. "As of tomorrow, I'm not going to be a squire anymore."

"I thought you couldn't quit."

"I can't, but it's not that I'm quitting being a squire. Tomorrow, I'm getting knighted!"

This was big news, and he told her. "Wow! I'm happy for you… despite the fact that you're now really my enemy…"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah. It's just a ceremony, and it's not like I'm going to take it that seriously. But still, I want you to come. Supporting me and all that junk."

"Isn't something like that exclusive? And extremely guarded?" To this, Higgs could only shrug. Marco took this as a sign that she didn't know, but he made up his mind nonetheless. "Alright, I'll come support you… although this is a _terrible risk._ "

"Thanks, Marco. I'm grateful. We can go celebrate afterwards, right?"

"Sure." He watched her remove her scissors and prepared to open a portal back to Mewni. Looking her over, he realized that he wasn't just looking at her, but in fact foreseeing the woman that she'd become. She'd already grown, and although she looked like a teen now, he would still know that she'd come a long way. "You've grown, Higgs…" he said quietly.

"…" She held his gaze for a moment, pondering what he meant. "You mean physically? Since we're technically adults right now?"

"No. I mean in the things that count."

"Marco, that's so damn sappy… but thanks. Maybe I'll let you hold them when we're married."

"I'm not talking about your breasts!" In answer, Sienna playfully punched his shoulder and shook her head, although she had expected a better reaction from him. A return tease, perhaps? Something to clue her in as to how he felt about her as well.

"Man, you're so easy to mess with. I know what you meant. Now let's go see Eclipsa-" Before she could open the portal, however, Marco caught hold of her hand.

"Wait… I gotta know something first. How far are you willing to follow me in doing all of this? We'll probably end up bloodying our hands from killing knights and squires… your peers-"

"It's a lot to ask for, I know." Higgs looked down, trying to consider whether or not she'd be all right with killing the people she rubbed shoulders with on a near-regular basis. But after considering why she shouldn't… she couldn't think of any reason to spare them, especially if they antagonized her crush. This was something she worried a bit about, but it wasn't the first time she'd killed someone; she was far from being a saint, particularly during the times she'd undergone Hekapoo's challenge, and had been a sword-for-Hire (a nice way to say 'mercenary') when she needed resources. Coupled that with the fact that she'd spent years outside of her dimension, she'd become estranged from the people she used to know.

But could she still hurt them? Kill them?

"Higgs? If you're not going to get into the nitty-gritty, I'd understand. They must be your friends and all-"

"They're not my friends," Sienna said plainly. "At best, we're only colleagues because we work in the castle. I've got no problems following you and fighting for your cause… to prevent an extensive dimensional apocalypse… I only need you to promise me that this isn't a wild goose chase, and this won't end in some dead end. Because if it does, then it'll have been all for nothing."

Marco paused for a while, listening to his internal tenant speak. "Appendaxuz gives his word that this is a good cause-"

"I want to hear it from _you_ , Marco!" Sienna said sternly. She kept her glare up, and for the first time, Marco was reminded that the girl hadn't always been his friend-… she could be stone-cold, vindictive and severe whenever she had to, and he could only give her one answer.

She wanted only **one** answer.

"I'm not going to promise. I'm not going to swear. I'm not going to give you my word. Instead, I can only say 'WILL'. I WILL destroy the Wellspring, and with your help, it'll be easier. I WILL ensure the safety of the dimensions. This can end in regret, but by any means necessary, it WILL be worth it." He lapsed silent after this declaration and remained quiet as he held Sienna's gaze. Soon, her harsh expression relaxed into the smile he'd grown accustomed to-... he'd never even realized that he'd appreciated it that much. 'Pretty,' he thought to himself.

"That's all right. If you will, then that's good enough for me." She opened up the portal through which they stepped through, but to their surprise, it was into the pouring rain. The clothes they were in was of no help in making them water resistant; in fact, the black seamless robes that Marco wore only logged the water, and overall increased in weight. Higgs faired off better as she was only in her tunic. "What…? Rain? I thought I opened up a portal in the hallway leading to Eclipsa's room."

Marco observed his surroundings. Looking around, he gathered that they were in some sort of rose-garden, and Eclipsa's tower was only a little distance away. The only problem was that there were guards still standing here and there, and it was only due to the fact that he and Higgs were crouching behind a small bush that they hadn't been noticed yet. "They must have a ward set up in her tower, or close by to it; it must have detoured us! Teleport us to your room, and we'll just navigate through the castle from there to get to Eclipsa the long way."

"Sounds good enough. But why _my_ room, nerd? Tryin' to seduce me?"

"Maybe later, Sienna." To this, the girl's eyes widened, making Marco grin.

"You countered it?"

"I gotta learn how to play the game at some point."

* * *

"Star? Star?! Wake up!"

Blue eyes opened slowly and with a groggy yawn, Star tried to muster the strength to get out of bed. Her head ached terribly, but as memories of the previous night came streaking through her mind, she shot up out of her bed, grabbed her wand from off of her nightstand and raising it to aim at her aggressor. But instead of thinking it to be Marco, it turned out that it was her own mother who had been trying to rouse her from her sleep. "Mom?! What… where's Marco?"

"Marco? The boy from the Earth dimension?" The queen who stood beside her daughter raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What's this about?"

That's right. She hadn't told her mother about Marco and her stresses concerning him, not yet at least for fear of showing herself to be of unsound mind. Now, though, she was running out of options and she was sure that she couldn't keep it to herself any longer. Marco had entered her room last night and had assaulted her-... it was irrefutable at this point. It was no fallacy. It was no hallucination. Marco was here on Mewni, and he was clearly against her. "Marco was here in my room last night… no… not only that… he's been here on Mewni for the past week at least! He choked me unconscious!"

"Star, that's preposterous. And you should be mindful of speaking like that. For starters, it's impossible for Marco to return because he's without any means of inter-dimensional travel. Secondly, you shouldn't make up wild stories just to excuse the fact that you're over three hours late for your royalty training. We've spoken about your habits of oversleeping-"

"No, no, no! I'm serious!" As quickly as she could, she brought her mother up to speed by explaining that she'd been seeing Marco about here and there inside the castle, almost as if he was stalking her. Only last night, she'd been taken by surprise and taken into submission that he'd done all of that in an effort for her to make an attempt to spy on him. At the end of it all, despite her hopes that her mother would believe her, it'd gone for naught.

"So you're saying… that despite the impossibilities stacked against Marco's potential return… he led you to doubt your own sanity, and you finally decided to use a spell that you learned from Eclipsa's chapter… It revealed him to be in your room, whereupon he then assaulted you and while he had you in submission, revealed that he knew that you'd resort to such a tactic and then choked you unconscious?"

Star nodded.

"Even if this was all true, then what would he be after? To what end? Why would he assault you? This could only be summed up as the product of a dream, even due to the fact that you have no evidence. Your room's the same as it always has been, and it's rather easy to believe that you concocted it all in your head as a nightmare-"

"It's true! Wait… check my neck! Maybe there's a bruise there…!"

"No marks there."

"Maybe he stole something…" Star wandered to the secret hiding place of her amateur book of spells and opened it up to look through it. Flipping through the pages, nothing was revealed to be missing. "Wait! Didn't he say that he wanted to find the Wellspring and destroy it? I bet that he wanted the map!" Skipping to the last page, she was actually disappointed to find that it was still there. It would have been a minor loss if it had gone missing, and a decent amount of evidence to show that some foul play was at work. "No. Everything's still here."

"A map? Star, I've had enough of this nonsense. We can talk about this later, but for now, we need to hone your magic skills with Baby. Come along, now."

"But Mom-!"

There were a few heavy knocks on the door and without even waiting for permission to enter, the person barged inside. It was Sir Stabby, and his eyes were wide open in concern; his was the only expression that could be read as the other few knights at the door were helmeted. Nonetheless, it could easily be read from their fidgeting that they were all apprehensive and taut for danger. "Milady! Pardon the intrusion, but there's been a murder! You and others of the Royal Family have to be escorted to the safe room, as the perpetrator might still be in the castle!"

"A murder?" The queen gasped, even as Star mirrored her shock. "Who's the victim? And do you know who the perpetrator is?"

"I don't know much of the details, my queen, but there's already a swift rumor the victim was a squire in the west wing of the castle, and the killer was that boy who was banished from the castle around six months ago… Mark, I think his name was?"

"Marco…" Star breathed. The queen's complexion paled at the ramifications and was already running for the door, pushing past the knight. Star was no different, and the knight yelled after them as they sprinted up the hall away from him.

"My queen, what about the protocol?!"

She didn't answer and saved her breath for running. Star was the exact same. Soon, they were in the west wing of the castle, and following the noises of commotion, arrived soon at the scene-… Star, for one, had never seen so much blood at any one time and felt sick to her stomach. "Marco… did this? That can't be… he's not capable of this!"

Moon would've begged to differ, easily recalling the instance of Marco punching cleanly through Toffee's heart. She knew he had strength, but could hardly comprehend that he had such a capacity for violence. Whichever poor squire he'd done in, Marco had stabbed him from one side and sliced him open to completely disembowel him, the large squire lying on his side in a still-growing pool of blood and his entrails that had slipped out of him. His ashen blood-drained face only showed surprise and pain; Moon's first thought that the squire probably never even predicted such an attack. "Oh my-…"

Moon was suddenly barreled out of the way as a burly woman-knight pushed her aside to get to the dead squire, never even minding the crimson to grasp him up to hold him to her chest and bawled. She didn't even heed that she'd crossed the Queen, but Moon didn't even care; it was easy to see that the squire had been close to the woman. Moon stood there, barely even able to take in the scene and was suddenly jolted in fright when a hand clutched hers. Looking around in a startle, she was relieved to see that it was her husband. "River?"

"That's her son, Baby Man."

"Her son? Lady Whosits?" Moon whispered back fiercely, suddenly recognizing the grieving woman. "Her squire was her own son?"

"Yes," River answered sullenly. "We have a witness of his death, that'd be another squire. She said that she heard fighting, and came just in time to see Marco stabbing Baby Man. He fled when he saw her, and she ran to get medical help. Unfortunately, he died by the time she returned with the castle's physician."

"Who saw? Who saw this committed?!" Moon yelled anxiously, looking around for anyone else who looked like a squire. She didn't have to look for long as a teen came forward out of the throng of knights crowding the scene. The girl did seem befitted with the tunic of a squire, but the girl's expression told everyone that she was traumatized.

"Is it true? You saw this committed?"

"Yes Milady," Higgs mumbled glumly.

"And you said that you saw Marco kill the unfortunate squire?"

"Milady, I'm sorry if I didn't pursue Marco, I only wanted to save Baby Man from dying-"

"Just answer the question!" Moon shouted. Sienna nodded grimly and looked at Lady Whosits still weeping over her dead son, even as the other knights were fruitlessly trying to pull her away from the scene of the grisly murder.

"Yes, Milady. Marco killed him." At this moment, murmurs rose to a din in the hallway as the knights were wondering what to do about Marco and whether or not he had a grudge against them in particular. But despite all this, Star still heard her mother over the noise.

"Star… about the talk we were going to have later… we're going to have it _now_."

Star nodded. She turned to glance at Baby Man one last time, before proceeding to follow her mother back to the Royal Quarters. In all these things-… not her, not Moon, not anyone else…- no one had realized that Higgs had her fingers crossed the whole time.

* * *

 **Things happen. Anyway, the latter part of season 3 seems to be trying to reveal Eclipsa to be a 'good' person. I don't care much for it, as it hardly affects my storyline. It's branched off into an AU for a while now, and it matters little if Eclipsa is evil or not. But despite that, I'm giving mad props to senpai. That is, Code Name – I am NRG. It could be said that Daron Nefcy has been reading his fic, and ripped off the idea of the Scribes, the Archives that record history even in the making, the procedures to hold Eclipsa's trial, and the fact that her claim to the throne is the most legit. That guy knows the future, I swear. Maybe he can help me win the lottery.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you thought.**

 **(BTW, did anyone see my ego leak into the fic? One yarm and forty w? [mray forty w] What strange currency, lol.)**

 **Valete!**


	13. Ere

**Vestiges**

 **Note: 'Ere' means 'Before' (In time.)**

 **It's been a few days.**

 **My sister is an English teacher. We have tiffs… sigh… we have** **arguments** **about all things English. Vocabulary, grammar, spelling… whether or not a word/term is obsolete or superfluous, you get the idea. The most recent thing on my agenda is ambiguity. Of course, there is no such thing as everyone understanding everything the way you want them to (take politics, for instance), I still try to make sure that everyone's on the same page.**

 **(Especially for this chapter.)**

 **So I did a survey by sending out some PMs at random. From the answers, I determined that (broadly), the way I write or describe something is 'mostly' understandable. For those who answered, thanks for your feedback, and I endeavor to improve the way I express certain factors in the fic, and those to come.**

 **Just before I begin-... Book of Eli, quit using your telepathic powers. I mean it! :)**

 **13.**

"…Teleport us to your room, and we'll just navigate through the castle from there to get to Eclipsa the long way."

"Sounds good enough. But why my room, nerd? Tryin' to seduce me?"

"Maybe later, Sienna." To this, the girl's eyes widened, making Marco grin.

"You countered it?"

"I gotta learn how to play the game at some point." His reply was mostly said as a joke, but he noticed that Higgs seemed somewhat disappointed that he called their teasing a 'game'. But wasn't it just that?

Marco shook his head. He had bigger things to worry about.

He watched as the squire opened up a new portal with her scissors, and while doing so, realized that she was the one who did all of the openings for new portals, and save for the few he closed with his own scissors, he hadn't really done much with his. It was mostly intentional, just in case there was some sort of magic detection which gave an alarm should his scissors be used; he hadn't been discovered yet, and he wanted to stay that way for as long as possible.

Although he had a nagging feeling that it was all about to change…

"Ladies first," he remarked while nudging her through the portal before stepping through himself. He re-emerged in Sienna's bedroom. Almost immediately, she complained about the fact that they were soaking wet, and they were tracking water over the floor.

"I can't help it. It was raining. Do you have a mop?"

"Nope. But I have something just as good." Sienna held up her dimensional scissors as if to show them off, before opening up a large horizontal portal low over the ground where they had gotten wet. Before he could even question what she was doing, he felt a tremendous amount of heat in the room and before long, the room was dried of all the water they had tracked in. In his confusion, he didn't even hear what she asked him to do and ask her what she had said.

"I said 'take off your clothes'," she ordered.

"Huh?" Marco felt his face redden with a deep blush. "What?"

Higgs sighed. "Damn it, I don't mean anything sexual. Take off your clothes. They're wet. You'll get 'em back dry in a few minutes."

"And how're you gonna do that?"

"Just drop them on the ground underneath the portal. The heat coming from it will dry it. But your shoes, though…" Sienna tapped her chin in thought before she opened another portal with her scissors. Reaching an arm inside, she seemed to feel around, before pulling a pair of sneakers from it and tossed it to him before closing the portal she withdrew the shoes from. Without even missing a beat, she herself began to strip out of her clothes and out of a sort of respect, Marco averted his eyes from her while removing his own. This went for naught, however, as by the time they had to place their clothes underneath the heating portal, they had to face each other.

For a long moment, they both tried to keep their eyes centered on each other's faces, although it was clear that they could still scrutinize one another simply because they were in each other's field of vision. He was only clad in his boxers, and while his companion wore a bra and tights, his imagination, despite his better nature, was already hard at work trying to fill in the blanks of what he wasn't seeing-

"What?" Higgs asked innocently, making Marco realize that he'd been staring. "Observing how much I've _grown_?"

"I wasn't talking about your breasts that time!" the Diaz protested. "Geez, I make one metaphorical comment…"

"It's good teasing material," Higgs said coyly. "Don't think I haven't noticed you checking me out. I've got game." Feeling the need to salvage some degree of normality of the situation, as well as his composure, Marco finally got his blushing under control and became more stoic.

"I've noticed you… growing…"

Higgs leaned forward expectantly, raising an eyebrow.

"…Crazier."

He earned a slugging on his shoulder, making him flinch. "Agh, geez. Can't take a joke. Makes me wonder how much harder you would've punched me back when you used to hate my guts."

Higgs tried to think back to the time of when he was describing but shook her head. "I've got a photographic memory, but I can't really remember much of that since it's so far back. Only that we were friends. I prefer it like that, anyway." Marco smiled and nodded. However, he made a grimace as soon as he realized something.

"Wait… you just gave me my sneakers… the pair that I had in my CLOSET at home."

"Yeah, I've been looking in there while we were still in the Earth Dimension. It's good to know places, especially when you've got dimensional scissors, am I right?"

"I'm not focused on that… You've been rooting through my **closet**?" Marco asked angrily. "Whatever happened to my privacy? Doesn't it exist anymore?"

"It's not that. I just normally go looking for places that would be useful to know. I just had a feeling that the little travel bag you had wouldn't be enough, so I looked in your closet and memorized it. This portal here close to the floor-" she pointed at the expansive magic gateway that was low to the ground, still radiating heat, "this portal is actually a little bit above a lava pit in Hekapoo's dimension."

"Feels like abuse. We could've just gotten a mop to dry it up. Although it's helping with the clothes…"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm like a sellout because of this, but I gotta admit that I get a kick out of using these dimensional scissors. I bet it'd come in handy for a lot of things, in addition to what I've already learned about them. I might as well get some use out of it before we kill the magic, right?"

"I suppose…" Marco said begrudgingly. He too knew the joys that the tool could bring, and regardless of how much he wanted to deny her, he had to admit they that they could come in useful. Hell, he would still need to use them to get to the Wellspring anyway. "But don't abuse them, though. Hekapoo could just track us by how we use them, and she's not really on our side anymore. It's going to get complicated when she comes back to Mewni. We're running on limited time, 'cause if she comes back and catches us flat-footed, our goose is cooked."

"Was she ever on our side?"

"I wanted her to be…" Marco mumbled wistfully. It was a tone that made Higgs frown a bit, making her second-guess the relations between her crush and the demigoddess. It was undeniable that he had a soft spot for her, and wondered if it would be a major issue if they were to cross paths again.

She hoped not.

"Anyway, physics is out the window," she said in explanation, trying to take his mind off of Hekapoo. "The heat is coming up from the lava pit into the portal over there, and down through the portal here. Magic is super weird. I remember you describing how you fell through a portal going down, only to come out through the next portal in the street sideways. Like this…" Higgs opened a portal and pushed her hand down through it, only for it to emerge through the next portal sideways and grasp Marco's shoulder from behind. "Verticality and horizontality and diagonals make no difference."

Marco reached down and picked up his clothes from underneath the portal that had heat coming from it. It was now dry, and he began to put them on again. "It sounds like you've been doing a lot of experimenting."

"Mm-hmm… Anyway, have you ever felt the **back** of the portals, like behind where you normally enter through? They're completely impervious back there as far as I can tell."

"…No… I did NOT know that. Why are you telling me all this? Are you trying to get me to reconsider destroying the Wellspring?"

"No." Secretly, she was nearly overjoyed to see that a certain demigoddess was no longer riding his mind. "No, I'm not. Magic has its perks, I guess, but if it's to make sure that the multiverse doesn't come to an end, everything magic is and what it stands for has to take second place."

"Right. Now hurry up and put on your clothes. Time's wasting, and we need to get to Eclipsa." Higgs nodded and began to put on her clothes. Soon after, she finished up by pulling on a new dry pair of heel-boots and closed off the portal which had dried her floor.

"But what's the hurry?"

"You _want_ to waste time? And have you forgotten about Hekapoo? She knows that we've got dimensional scissors and that we're in cahoots with each other. She'll come back, and I want to at least get to Eclipsa before that happens. Are you staying or coming?"

"No. I'm coming." Sienna approached the door and opened it for him, before poking her head outside. No one was about, and she beckoned him to follow her. "We're in the south wing of the castle. We've got a long way to go in order to get to Eclipsa in the west wing… Are you sure you don't want to at least wait until night? Maybe your ol' black _bedsheet_ you like to wear will be a little more helpful then."

" _ **The girl is right,"**_ Appendaxuz agreed from the inner reaches of Marco's mind.

"Even without considering Hekapoo returning to Mewni soon, I wonder how much time the multiverse has?" Marco asked rhetorically. "I don't care. I've already been set back by six months and trained until my muscles tore and my bones cracked. I'll be damned if I just loll around and waste time and opportunities just because I finally made it back to Mewni. Let's **go** …" From his very tone of voice, Higgs could tell that Marco had become fully serious, and he began to give off an aura of strong intent. "Sienna? Are you with me or not?"

"You know that I'm **with** you." She began to walk towards the west wing of the castle as calmly as she could, whilst Marco already began to dart from corner to corner. Sometimes, he even leaped up to the rafter's beams and traversed there whenever possible to avoid knights several times as they walked below him. More than once, he was almost caught by knights traversing the hallways when he didn't have this particular factor, and Higgs had to distract them somewhat while he made his way past them in their blind-spots.

"Thanks," he mumbled as soon as they made it past another knight.

The squire nodded. 'Of course, this is the only way I can really help. He doesn't even need me for my scissors, 'cause he has his own. Just look at him…' She silently watched him as he crept through the hallways silently, avoiding a few more foolish knights that she herself walked past concurrently. 'If I hadn't honed my own skills in Hekapoo's dimension, I'd never even be able to keep track of him, even if I did know he was here. If it was night and he was out to kill people, no one would really see him and even be able to defend themselves, much less…'

"Are we in the west wing yet? Feels like we've been walking for a while," Marco complained. Every time he was forced to take extreme caution because of personnel who went about the hallways, it cost him quite a bit of time, and served to make him anxious.

"Just about there. We just need to get past the guidance hall, and we'd be officially in the west wing."

"Guidance hall?" Marco queried in confusion. "What's that?"

"I heard that it's where the princess is supervised while being taught to improve her abilities over magic." Hardly had she finished speaking was the Diaz already at the door, peering through the keyhole. "What're you doing?!" she hissed in a whisper. "After all we've done, you're actually _trying_ to get caught?!"

"No one's in there," Marco stated nonchalantly as he backed away from the door to keep moving on. "Only an affront to nature."

"Hmm?" Sienna paused a while to peer into the room as well, only to see a cat-like creature with a gemstone affixed to its forehead, scribbling in a notebook. Every now and again, it would mumble 'interesting' to itself, making Sienna shake her head in indifference. She hastened after Marco, asking him about what he meant, but he wouldn't say anything more on the matter, although she did believe that she heard him mumble 'godmother' to himself.

They resumed making their way through the west wing of the castle, Marco in the lead. Before long, his own impatience had finally caught up with him as he blundered around a blind corner to come face to face with two knights; one was fully armored, but the other wasn't. Furthermore, the second was far more recognizable, given his handsomeness-… one would think that he went armorless just to show off his good looks.

Both the knights and Marco held each other's gaze for the barest of moments before the armored one spoke in realization. "Sir Dashing? Isn't that the Princess's squire? From six months ago?"

"He was banished!" Sir Dashing retorted angrily. "He's an interloper in the castle! Take him into custody!"

From where Higgs had arrived-… and from her vantage point…- peeked around the corner to help keep herself hidden, she could only watch as Marco reacted explosively and punched Sir Dashing in the gut so hard that he flew backwards unto his back. With only a cry for his companion's sake, the other knight barely even got to draw his sword in time before Marco turned on him as well. Heeding the fact that the knight was armored from head to toe, the Diaz grabbed the knight's own sword out of its scabbard in a reverse grip and slammed the handle into the man's helmet, making it ring terribly inside. With his head as the center for all the internal noise, he had lost his robust and without any hesitation, Marco dropped the captured sword and grabbed the knight by the back of his head as well as his arm. In a show of massive strength, Marco spun once and slammed the knight's head so hard into the wall that it made web-cracks, and the man's helmet dented inwards to a large degree.

The knight slumped-… it was unclear if he died from his helmet's compression or if he was just unconscious, but blood trickled from the eye-slits of his armored head-dress, clearly a bad sign. By this time, Sir Dashing had finally been able to pick himself up off the ground, spitting out a globule of blood that showed that he had severe internal hurt. As he begun to yell 'interloper', his warning cry died in his throat as Marco kicked him in his side, directly in the liver. The man collapsed like a ton of bricks onto his hands and knees.

"No one is going to keep me from my goal!" Marco nearly shouted through clenched teeth. "Not you, not Star, not the M.H.C.! **NO ONE**!"

Before Sir Dashing could even react, Marco drew back his foot for a kick and lashed with it savagely-… it scored on the man's face, the point of Marco's shoe destroying the Sir's eye and knocking him unconscious as his head snapped backward from the force. Falling flat, he didn't get up to move again.

Marco stood still for a little while longer before calling out to Higgs without even turning around. "You can come out now… they're done."

Sienna finally allowed herself to emerge from her hiding spot around the corner. "Holy… shit…! Couldn't you just stick to hiding?" the squire fumed to herself. "Damn, it's too late now. Can we just dump them outside the castle?"

"We're too close to wherever they have that Ward set up. We can't open any portals. Let's just hide them the old-fashioned way. I guess I've already botched things, but there are too many knights going around, so it was bound to happen." Marco tried a nearby door and to his thankfulness, was unlocked. Without any regard as to who could possibly be inside, he just walked in to check if he could hide the knights in there and observed that it was a bathroom. "Help me put them in here."

"Fine." Sienna walked over to Sir Dashing as Marco volunteered himself to pick up the armored (heavier) one, and to her disgust, saw that a clear, viscous liquid was running from the man's collapsed eye socket in trails alongside the rivulets in blood. "Don't you know how to knock someone out with a little more finesse?"

"Shit happens." No more words passed between them as they pulled and hefted the knights into the bathroom; they were both slung into the bathtub with the curtains hiding them, before the pair of insurgents moved on again. They passed even more knights in the hallways, and it began to get to be so much that Marco was getting fed up. Sienna could sense that in him; she noticed that he had, over time, become an efficient person and focused, but his patience was too volatile and he was quick to anger. It was obvious even more so that she could nearly feel his anger rolling off of him in waves, and just when she thought he was about to explode and just charge through the castle like a madman, she spotted something familiar.

"The Ward! There it is!" Higgs pointed at a chandelier, getting Marco's attention immediately. "It's that big green gem in the center." Marco looked up at the light centerpiece, following where his companion's finger was pointing. With nary a word, Marco leaped up and grabbed a hold of the horizontal beam to pull himself up. Sienna wasn't surprised to see him leap nearly seven feet this time, but she didn't really expect him to be able to do anything about the ward. "Just leave it alone! I worked over one of those for nearly a week with hammer and spike just to dig it out of the casing! You can't do anything about it right now…!"

Marco ignored her protest in favor of focusing on pulling out the Ward gem out of the casing in the chandelier powering it. "I can get it. But… has it ever crossed your mind that there might be some reason why these Ward gems are _green_?"

"It hasn't… Maybe it's a coincidence. Now come on! We can get it later." To this, Marco shook his head.

"Nah. If I get this now, we can just teleport straight to Eclipsa, and teleport out in the same way."

"Are you even listening to me? I said that it's too hard to just pull it out-!"

"Higgs?" A new voice asked unsurely. Taken by surprise, the teen spun around to see her fellow squire, Baby Man, staring at the robed figure grasping at the gem in the chandelier. "Who the hell are you talking to-… wait… that's Marco!"

Already, the stocky squire had pulled out his chained-mace and was swinging it. Sienna's body was already moving on autopilot without any sort of thinking; it was a culmination of years of learning combat in Hekapoo's dimension and her unconscious wants to safeguard her crush. To Baby Man's surprise, just as he was about to throw his mace at the formerly disgraced Marco, Higgs had thrown the strongest haymaker of her life and smashed him in his jaw.

"Agh!" Blood and spittle went flying as his head nearly spun hard enough to break his neck. He still kept his balance, though, and he was more than a little displeased to realize that he could feel one of his teeth had become loose. "Higgs? Oh, no…! You're working **with** him!"

"Better than being used by the knights!" she spat in disgust as she pulled out her tanto-style knife and pointed it threateningly at him. "If you had the sense, you'd understand!"

"You're a **fool**!" Gripping his mace, he wildly swung it again and this time, he was going on the offensive against his former associate. By now, Marco was preparing to intervene, but Higgs noticed.

"I've got this. You think you're so strong? Get that damn Ward crystal…!" She didn't stop to see if he was listening to her, but nonetheless, she remained focused on finding some way of incapacitating Baby Man.

Yet, there came the nagging thought that even if he was taken down, he'd only inform everyone later that she was an insurgent. When she narrowly had to dodge his chain-mace when he swung it at her again, she realized that she needed to pull herself together and end the fight. Baby Man, apparently, had the same inclination and stepped in closer to grab Higgs by the neck. "Higgs, stop this! We both know that I'm stronger!"

To some extent, it was his own fault for taking the fight to nearer proximity. But he had no idea that she had already grown up to be a master of close-quarters-combat. In an instant, Baby Man was so sure that he was winning… but it all changed when he felt cold steel slice into his gut. He could barely even voice his shock and pain, and he was suddenly afraid of dying. Struggling like an insect on a pin, he increased his crushing grip on Sienna's neck in an effort to get her to stop stabbing him, but it failed. Despite her own airways being cut off, her face was devoid of any pity as she begun to drag her razor-sharp knife through his gut like a vicious saw, even as his crimson lifeblood and innards began to spill out from him.

"Stronger," she said through clenched teeth, "but not very clever…! Don't try to fight **me** on the _INSIDE_ …!"

It was almost a contest of sorts, as Baby Man was still trying to choke the life and resistance out of her, even during his own disembowelment. But just when Sienna felt like her neck would collapse in on itself, Baby Man's strength finally waned, and he released his grip to totter to his knees.

"Oh… Gods…" he cried weakly as even more of his bowels continued to slip out of him, the scarlet of his ropey intestines to the dark hues of the glands falling out of his belly and through his lax fingers. Silently, Higgs and Marco only stared as he finally collapsed on his side, seemingly still trying to keep most of his guts inside him, before his life finally escaped him.

Marco sighed deeply as he watched Higgs look down at the corpse of her former colleague. "You alright…?"

"This… was fucked up. Why didn't you just listen to me!" Higgs growled loudly. "If you had just stayed hidden, he wouldn't have seen you and I wouldn't have had to fight him!"

"I've already messed up by fighting the other knights. But thank you for defending me." He re-continued his efforts at pulling out the Ward crystal, and it served to make Sienna's frustration rise.

"I said that you **can't** pull it out-!"

Marco turned to glare at her, a glare harsh enough to make her wince. "Don't… doubt… me…" With that said, he finally made an almighty tug and the crystal came free in his hands, making Higgs gawk in surprise. Immediately, the green Ward crystal lost its glow from being severed from its power source, but the Diaz took that as a good thing before he jumped down from his perch. "Alright, I guess that's that. I could kill for something sweet to eat right now…" Seeing her look away, he facepalmed himself with his free hand at his lack of tact. "Sorry. That was a poor choice of words-"

"We're insurgents." Sienna interrupted. "We're actively fighting their govern in an effort to save the dimensions. If they're believers or practitioners of magic, doesn't that make them our enemies?" Seeing him nod, the girl ground her teeth a bit as her gaze averted to Baby Man's body. "Sure, it does. And we're probably gonna be doing a lot more of _this_ in the future. Hell, we might even end up razing Mewni if it means that it'll save the rest of the multiverse. It's a small price to pay, but still…"

"Are you saying we can't pay it?"

Sienna looked down, almost afraid to look Marco in the eyes. "I can pay it. You can pay it. WE can pay it. I'd be lying to say that I didn't feel anything about killing him. But I feel for myself more. I feel for this crusade more. I feel for **you** more."

Marco's jaw became slack. "What do you mean-"

"I can't explain it. We got a mutual understanding, sure, but I know it wasn't all that. In the short space of time that we became friends before you left Mewni, all I realized afterwards is that somehow, for some reason, I'm drawn to you. For that same reason…" She finally brought herself to look him in the face, and their eyes locked with one another. It was in that moment that Marco had never yet seen someone that determined. "I am **willing** to spill as much blood as it takes to keep you safe and to ensure that you accomplish what you need to do." Sienna was now completely serious as she took her bloodied blade and wiped it off on Baby Man's clothes. "I'm willing. Because I'm not just your friend. I am **your knight** _._ "

Marco wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, but he did his best. "I'll lead us to the realization."

Higgs smiled grimly in response. In experimentation, she took out her scissors and attempted to open a portal to her room. To her relief, she was successful, which showed that the Ward had been effectively neutralized, not to mention the fact that they had another one which would factor into their plans. It was still marginally a win. Looking down at herself, she grimaced in horrible realization. "Even if it was only my arm-warmer that got bloodied, I'm still gonna get caught…"

"You won't. No one on Mewni right now knows that you've been helping me, but when those knights wake up, they're gonna talk that I fought them. I'm not incognito anymore. But for your sake, I want you to make up a story… you saw me and Baby Man fighting. Get rid of both of your arm-warmers, then go 'attempt' to fetch a doctor. I know you're a good actor. At the least, it'll be a distraction that'll pull almost all the knights here. The guards must be thick around here just for security for Eclipsa."

"What'll you do?"

"I'm gonna go see Eclipsa by myself. If our dimensional scissors are working again, I might as well use mine to get straight to her room. Take this crystal, and I'll see you tomorrow at your ceremony. That is, if I'm not caught and or dead."

Sienna grinned stupidly as she took off her bloodied arm-warmer, then the other (clean) one for uniformity and threw them both into the portal to her room, then took the crystal from Marco. The Ward followed her arm-warmers into the portal before she closed it. "Yes, sir."

Marco smiled as his answer, before he opened up his own portal and went through, closing it on the other side. Now in Eclipsa's room, Marco took in the sight of the room, noting how up-kept it was. It mattered little; what mattered was the fact that he'd finally come into contact with the Butterfly. His entrance hadn't gone unnoticed-… he had the full attention of the fallen queen who sat around a table with, drinking a cup of tea while absently playing with the pawns on a chessboard.

"Oh…" Eclipsa smiled when she recognized the teen who had entered her room unannounced. "Hello… my King."

 **And scene. For some reason, I was torn between writing what happened in the aftermath, versus writing what felt like a flashback chapter to show what lead to Baby Man's demise. He's not really a character death, but I took this road as it shows Higgs and Marco, not just more character development, but to show that people really ought to pay more attention to the chessboard principle working behind the scenes. It's not a Red Herring; it's not something meant to mislead you.**

 **The next chapter is gonna get gnarly as most of the show's characters are going to... no spoilers. But I can say it's gonna take a while to hammer out. Even if I have to make two back-to-back updates.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	14. Veto: The Pawns

**Vestiges**

 **Been a while. In any case, I'm pushing a large number of updates to all my fics in a week-long spree, including posting a couple more stories to celebrate my Mega-Versary, for writing a MILLION words. It's been three years since I started, and I've never regretted coming to write fics on this site, not for a second. Thank you for your support, and enjoy.**

 **~ M. Ray 4 The Win.**

 **14.**

If it's one thing that Marco did not expect, it was for Eclipsa-… the queen of 'Darkness'…- to call him her _King_.

Marco almost did a double-take when he glanced aside, as if he were checking his surroundings for a person, for _anyone else_ she could've been referring to. "Huh? " He pointed at himself. "You talking to me?"

To this, the queen had a strange smile on her face as she continued to look at the teen. "Well… you're the only one here, aren't you?"

Marco, to say the least, was a bit flummoxed. He was expecting someone more serious, someone with a bit more presence so to speak. If he'd had a list of things he wanted to do today, engaging in mystic riddles with Eclipsa would be at the very bottom. "You know what? Forget it. I'm here on borrowed time, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm an insurgent. Everything's going to go off the rails and we needed to be somewhere else five minutes ago. So let's go-"

The queen interrupted him before he could continue. "Ah, hmm. I'm well aware that you're here about the business of the Wellspring, correct? How can I help you with that? What is it that you need of me?"

Marco raised an eyebrow. Finally, now he was getting somewhere. He didn't feel like questioning her seeming willingness to help as time was already of the essence; who knew how long the death of Baby Man would draw attention from Eclipsa's room. Besides, maybe she was allied with Appendaxuz from the start, hence why she welcomed him so easily. "For starters, you can help me by coming along with me to help me get to the Wellspring. We need to leave, so get whatever it is that you need to carry with you. We don't have any time to waste." He was roving around her room as he said this, picking up any piece of clothing he came across and throwing them into a nearby conveniently empty suitcase. "Well? Do I have to literally toss you over my shoulder and carry you or something?" Marco asked sarcastically. His thin patience was already well past its limits, and if he was sure of one thing, he hadn't done all that he had only to be set back by an obstinate queen. 'Appendaxuz, are you sure about her? She hasn't even gotten up from her chair. Is she even taking me _seriously_?!'

Before his internal iniquity could answer, Eclipsa spoke. "I'm afraid leaving won't be possible at this time. If I have to be honest, actually… this is terrible timing. I have to stay." Then, like she was completely unconcerned with what he had to say, she resumed playing with the pawns on the chessboard idly. "I'm not sure if you keep up with Mewni's current affairs, but I have never abdicated my throne and in case you haven't noticed, I'm not _dead_ either. I'm still technically queen of Mewni and I must say, I'm enjoying Moon's attempts at sucking up to me, especially given the fact that she's not from my direct lineage. It's what I deserve, after all."

" _ **Just listen to her, Marco. We're very familiar with one another,"**_ Appendaxuz encouraged, although he himself was worrying that the woman might say something that she shouldn't. _**"Besides**_ , _**if you don't have the time, we'll just have to make the time for her regardless."**_ Marco nodded absently in response jadedly, before he gazed around the room, trying to bring his frustrations under control.

'All right. Guess I'm playing ball.' He returned his attention to Eclipsa and gave her his response. "No, I'm not keeping track of Mewni's current affairs. But now that I think about it, back when I used to be Star's squire, I remember her telling me that your room was a complete pigsty. If that's true, then this looks... queen-like now."

Eclipsa smirked. "And what would you know about the room looking like a queen's room?"

Marco ignored this particular question in favor of thinking about his previous line. "At least this would explain why the guards are so thick around here. But… are you actually the queen of Mewni right now?!" Marco whispered loudly in amazement.

Meanwhile, on the inside, Appendaxuz's low simmering anger was quelled as Marco slipped off topic as to why Eclipsa called him 'her king'. Never minding that, he still had no idea why Eclipsa was being so stubborn. He asked Marco to insist that she come along with them but after Marco did just that, Eclipsa still refused.

"As of now, Queen Moon is looking for a way to put me back in a position of authority while still retaining some sort of power for herself. Not that I ever got off of my throne in the first place because I'm still Queen of Mewni, albeit unofficially seeing as it hasn't been formally announced." Eclipsa tapped her cheek once as she gathered her thoughts so that she could say what she needed to. "But I'm going to skip to the heart of the matter. I think it would be better served for me to stay here to run the kingdom properly or to run it into the ground at your behest. I believe I'll be of much more use like this, especially given the circumstances. It's what I came to think while I was waiting for your arrival."

Marco raised an eyebrow in astonishment. He had come to believe that she was now feeling some sort of patriotism for Mewni, but now she seemed as if she didn't care about it one way or another; if one thing could be said, it was that the woman was completely unpredictable, and it made him cautious. However, for the first time since entering the room, he thought that he had finally gotten the general gist of the situation. Eclipsa was on his side, or at the very least, on Appendaxuz's side-… they did have a history together after all. "So you always expected me to come here?"

"But of course. Besides…" She gestured carelessly at the black queen on her chessboard. "You certainly can't do very much when you don't have a Queen on your side, now can you? But I have to ask… have you done something about getting a Bishop, a Rook, and a Knight?"

All of a sudden, as soon as she said 'Knight', Marco felt strange as he thought about Sienna. She had just declared that she was his Knight, and all of this talk in chess-like terms was starting to make him feel put-off. "Quit talking as if this is a game. This is serious!"

Eclipsa narrowed her eyes dangerously, as the vibe around her dropped to frigid temperatures, if only for a second. "Chess isn't merely a _game_. And if you used your brain more than your muscles, you'd grasp that you need to start alluding your situation to it so that you could think more strategically. All of us higher-ups know that you're capable of many things. Dangerous things. _Unpleasant_ things. The Queen and the others of the M.H.C.… even I myself have been observing you… watching you… Hekapoo, every now and again, used her standing to make sure that no one actually came to Earth just to pick you off in your sleep-… such was the threat that many already saw you as. Now that you're here, I can only assume that you need my help to get navigate the dimensions to get to the Wellspring. The problem is that you act just like a… how do you say… a newbie…?" Eclipsa chuckled to herself before her usually good-natured expression died as she glared at Marco. "You've only been trying to accomplish the objective without thinking about how to get to the objective. It's rather upsetting. For example, if I were to follow you now and try to help you to get through the dimensions to get to the Wellspring, what would happen after I've left? Do you think that the M.H.C. would merely stand by while you cruise through the dimensions and threaten their very way of life, with the Queen they still believe is 'evil'? That Rhombulus won't crystallize you? That Omnitraxus won't kill you? That even Hekapoo herself would ALLOW her created scissors to portal their way to destroy where she was born? Stop and think for a minute, if you're even capable of it."

Marco narrowed his eyes. "I didn't come here to be insulted."

" _ **That's the Queen, for you. Their emotions go in every direction and are about as diverse and varied as the elements of nature itself. It's not really her fault."**_

"I don't care," Marco said out loud, "she's dissing me for no good reason. I still don't see why we can't just go to the Wellspring right now."

"I think you don't like hearing the truth. You came to Mewni, fully expecting that you could achieve what you need to do, without ever pausing to consider that you could be stopped very easily."

With all things considered, is it actually safe to say that you are on my side? Would it KILL you to be more positive? I can handle whatever they can throw at me."

"Make no mistake, I _am_ on your side and you can be sure that they'll throw everything they have at you including the kitchen sink. I merely wish for the King to use his head more than his _muscles_ if he's going to be the one who leads us. After all, it wouldn't bode well failing and knowing that you could have done it better. Don't you know the saying 'I wish I knew then what I know now'?"

"Right now, I only wish that I understood everything that you're trying to tell me. I'm not thick, but it's coming across to me and feels like you have access to very confidential information, play both sides of the fence, and the worst part-… I can't tell if you're trying to warn me or delay me from doing what I need to do. Furthermore…" Marco's fists clenched. "My friend and I have done a lot just to get here, and if you don't come with us now, it's going to be next to Impossible to get to you again, much less get you the hell away from Mewni!"

Eclipsa sighed. She could see that he was going to hardheaded-… no, stubborn and ill-willed were more suitable descriptions. She could explain everything later. "All right. If you can answer a single question the way I want you to, I will leave with you right this minute with no misgivings."

The Diaz, for sure, and not like or this was going and was actually tempted to just portal Eclipsa away by force. Of course, it would have had its ramifications later but he would've rather have her to be an amiable ally rather than a reluctant one. Yet, in his better judgment, he decided to answer the question after all. "Alright, let's hear it."

"The Magic High Commission consists of demigods, a demigoddess and the Queen of Mewni. Essentially, when you think about them, you can't help but liken them to Rooks."

"Rooks? Marco asked in mild confusion." 'Oh damn, more chess.'

"Yes, Rooks. With their powers, they can just march right over anyone who stands in their way with barely any technicalities or hesitation. They're like a steamroller, so to speak."

Marco fumed to himself quietly. "What's the question?" he asked edgily.

"Rhombulus is a twit with a rock for a brain and most of Omnitraxus' powers revolve around spatial manipulation. Queen Moon herself, while only a queen because she was born of the wand, still has extensive magical capabilities. But I have to ask…"

In sudden realization that there was a name that Eclipsa had yet to call, Marco's body went taut.

"The last member of the M.H.C. is the one that concerns me the most. She's capable of creating a doppelganger army of herself, tracking and able to block the usage of any dimensional scissors in the entire Multiverse and being able to warp to any person of interest. In addition, if you really need more details, she has pyrokinesis and ties to bounty hunters who are willing to do anything for her if it means getting a pair of dimensional scissors for themselves. In short, she could stop us in our tracks whenever she pleased. So my question is… have you _dealt_ with her?"

He didn't answer, at least, not out loud. Eclipsa didn't even need his verbal response. She could see the answer all over his face. He _hadn't._

"I'm sure that you have not gotten this far simply by 'winging' it. You must have considered her talents and skills and how they could be either helpful or entirely damning to our endeavor."

"I have… but I'm prepared to hear any ideas you have pertaining to her."

"Ideas?" Eclipsa commented goofily as she beamed one of her trademark smiles. "My King, there are only two streets from here. That particular rook had better be eliminated, either from having her flame permanently quenched or convincing her to become our ally seeing that she's obviously fond of you. I'm sure you're capable of doing either one of the two."

Marco covered his face with his hands. "I couldn't persuade her."

"You mean that she refused to be persuaded. She's a stubborn sort, like a certain boy I know," she commented easily while pointing at him. "But in any case, the 'gods' will have to be killed, or at the very least… her."

Marco somewhat shivered at the thought of having to kill Hekapoo. It was a wild vision of his imagination and strangely enough, he could see himself accomplishing it and he abhorred it. It was rather strange. He could see himself disposing of anyone in his way except for that particular soul. He himself had no idea why he was so attached to her. It couldn't be because of the trial she put him through, because he disliked that particular phase of his life, although she had insinuated that he continued to chase her because he had come to like her instead of just being the bitch who screwed him over for more than a decade. If that was true, then that obviously meant he was a masochist and he was sure that he wasn't.

Was it because she had defended him at his trial? Was it now because he had to learn from Eclipsa that she has been responsible for the fact that he had been left alone on Earth instead of being persecuted by the M.H.C. while he was training? If it was because of a sense of obligation, then it should be an easy enough problem to get over and then deal with Hekapoo 'properly'. Wasn't it?

"Why?" Marco asked at last, trying to glean some sort of useful response from the queen, "Why does she in particular have to be eliminated? Furthermore, why can't we just demolish the Wellspring now and be done with it, then deal with the M.H.C. after that if they're still a problem?"

"Simple. Because, dearie, given the fact that we're going to Wellspring the long way, each portal would be difficult to create with a pair of common dimensional scissors when we get to No Man's land. It's not a simple snip-snip-… it would be the equivalent of carving your way through a solid wall, and that's certainly a place I wouldn't want to be cornered in when the M.H.C. comes after us. Each portal would take a lengthy amount of time to create, and we'd be caught with our hands in the proverbial jar. During that time, any one of them could simply detect that we're trying to go through doors that, according to them, should remain closed."

"…" Marco looked down in disappointment. "I see. How long would it take to make a portal in each of the dimensions in No Man's Land?"

"A day. You'd be at it for ten days total, and that's if you worked at it non-stop. Obviously undoable, especially given the fact that those dimensions are a wretched place filled with dangers."

Marco sighed. "So I'm gonna have to kill Hekapoo at the very least to make sure that they don't detect us and stop us, huh?" Eclipsa merely nodded in agreement, though she noticed that the teen had become crestfallen. Silently, she reached for the kettle nearby on its table and poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. After instructing him to drink to help calm his nerves, they sat in the silence for a while before she broke it.

"Why do you hesitate so much as to where Hekapoo is concerned?" Staring at the boy in a brief study, her eyes narrowed in interest. "Oh. I see."

Marco's head snapped to her. "See what?"

"Perhaps those particular feelings aren't blown out of proportions as yet, as they are still in realization. But I believe that, no matter how small the feeling still is, you are smitten with her."

Marco nearly spat his tea when he heard the queen's theory. "W-What?"

"It's true, that it would properly explain your hesitancy. You've probably had the feeling for a long time, even while you had fully-realized feelings for someone else. Regardless, I was starting to wonder why you were so much less anxious to please the princess to instead give more and more attention to someone else. At least now I know who this 'someone else' is… and why you're like this."

Marco began to laugh, a strange merry. "I am **not** in love with Hekapoo."

"And I'm not wearing a cravat with a crescent moon on it. Anyone can say something but that does not make it true. Regardless, that doesn't change the matter at hand. Bring down the M.H.C., or I don't move. One doesn't send a Queen into a den of Rooks. It's simply not done." She motioned the black queen on the chessboard which disposed of the white queen on the other side, but it became obvious that the black queen fell into unavoidable check by the rooks on either side. The symbolic meaning wasn't lost on Marco, and he fumed silently to himself.

"Again with the chess talk," Marco grumbled with a sigh. "But at least I see your point. Goddamnit, I'm gonna be set back again? I just need to do one thing so I can move on with my life!"

"Sadly, that's no longer the case as all of our fates are intertwined-"

Marco had already started to tune out the Queen, but a jolt of realization suddenly struck him. "Wait a minute. You just said that using the dimensional scissors was the 'long way'. What's the short way?"

Eclipsa gave a shrug while tapping her cheek in thought. "Getting yourself blown to oblivion with the Butterfly Wand. It's particularly risky, as your physical body would have to utterly destroyed, and even then, you wouldn't necessarily have the items you need to bring down the Wellspring, seeing as those are _physical_ things. Being Immortal raises your chances of getting into the Wellspring, however, but not your chances of success overall. Sadly, we're both fresh out of immortality so obviously, that's out of the question."

Something was odd about this all. There was a horrible logic, and Marco was sure that he could see the sense of it. He could see the answer, yet he didn't want to believe it. The more and more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The more sense it made, the more he started to doubt himself.

 _You think you've won? HA! You don't make the plans… I DO! ME! Only_ _ **I**_ _know how this all turns out…!_

Marco's jaw dropped as he thought about the Lizard's last words rolling around in his mind. "Oh, bloody hell. You're talking about TOFFEE, aren't you?" Marco asked calmly, not betraying the internal storm he was feeling inside.

"About Bishop? That's precisely who I meant. He accomplished quite a _lot_ given his capabilities, but being a Bishop, he's always had a roundabout nature when it came to fighting his own battles. He got so close to the main objective, although he still managed to accomplish his task, despite being tardy for almost as long as I've been crystallized. That was all that was required of him, and he did it _willingly._ "

Marco's trust flew south for the winter as soon as he heard how the woman said 'willingly', but he was still more focused on 'objective'. His mind instantly began to rerun the conversation back up to what she had said about alluding what they were doing was like chess. "Hmm… wait a minute. He's 'Bishop'? I'm the 'King', Higgs is the 'Knight' and you're the 'Queen'… Not was… IS. Chess… crap… think, Marco, think!" Finally, he recalled seeing the Toffee piece on Appendaxuz's chess board so long ago, and everything came together in his mind.

Eclipsa grinned when she saw the look of realization on the boy's face. "Why, I do believe that you're starting to get it."

Marco frowned deeply. "I haven't _started_ to get it. I already DO get it. Pawn promotion to Queen once they cross the board. Toffee was working with you and Appendaxuz. Toffee got himself killed on purpose so that the Queen could be 'set free' from the crystal!"

"Appendaxuz and I prefer to think of it as 'combatant replacement'," Eclipsa explained, "Toffee died so that I could return. Perhaps if he had only concerned himself with allowing himself to die, things wouldn't have devolved to such a mess and the M.H.C. becoming so retentive about their rules concerning magic. I suppose Toffee gave them a trying time, didn't he? He actually thought about his actions and made contingencies before committing to them, unlike a certain someone I know," she said coolly, looking at Marco intently to say that she was talking specifically about him.

Marco shook his head in alarm. "We're fighting for the right thing. If we're all fighting like this, it's not going to be by sacrificing ourselves! What the _fuck's going_ on?!"

"Calm yourself, Marco; you misunderstand. It's a sacrifice that he himself made willingly, as he knew that his talents could only do so much, though he tried to see if he could accomplish it himself. He was willing to do whatever it took in order for magic to be completely abolished. However, I would like to know if our King is of the same inclination."

There was no hesitation, though he was still a bit emotional at this latest discovery. He'd been working at this angle for more than a half-year, training like mad, passing his former limitations. He trained until his muscles tore and his bones cracked… 'till his mind broke and the tears came and went until they were replaced with nothing but a fury.

And even if he didn't realize it, Appendazuz was the same. He'd been set back for too long, and he needed to get to the Wellspring as soon as possible. For all the power he'd given Marco at the expense of his own health and strength, for the mental conditioning he'd done to his vessel to remove Marco's ability to even feel guilt and remorse… the entity hadn't done all of that just to fail.

"I am willing to do whatever it takes." | _**"I am willing to do whatever it takes."**_

They spoke in unison. They spoke in accord, with the same endpoint in mind. As Eclipsa gazed at the boy in front of her, she wondered if he would object to some extra 'help' from a certain Septarian Lizard. All she really needed to bring him 'back' was the Butterfly Wand.

Eclipsa had a feeling that it was going to be interesting tomorrow.

* * *

It had been two hours. Star had been speaking with her mother for nearly that long, and that wasn't because either of them was talkative. They had been discussing the implications of Marco's actions, as well as her own actions and Star had hated every minute of it. For starters, it was almost like a roundtable discussion where the topic was about how to deal with Marco, specifically (and crudely), how to take him into custody or to simply send out highly trained squads who weren't prepared to handle Marco with kid gloves. That was Moon's proposition. Rhombulus and Omnitraxus wanted to exercise their full authority and powers to take down Marco themselves, and it wasn't pretty. They thought to themselves that they had fought worse than a boy with only an enhanced physicality, and could handle him as such.

But to Star, she was miserable. They essentially wanted to kill her best friend. Of course, she was going to feel peeved by it. The worst part, though, she was hardly able to help the situation in his favor because there was hardly any evidence to support him for the better. As far as everyone was concerned, he had butchered a squire, and there were yet two more knights who were assaulted. The one who had been armored heavily had perished and from the looks of things, he wasn't going to be having any sort of open-viewed casket for his funeral. The other, an elite knight or so to speak, was still alive to give a report that they and Marco met in the hallway. Besides Marco's alarming capacity for violence, what he had yelled before destroying the man's eye was equally unsettling. Apparently, he was dead set on achieving the goal that he sought after from the very beginning and from the looks of things, he was determined to achieve it no matter how many corpses he had to walk over.

He was adamant that he refused to be stopped or delayed by anyone, Star herself included. Obviously, he still had some resentment towards her.

Regardless, that didn't mean that she was going to play the self-loathing card. She had simply looked out for his best interest, and if he couldn't see past that, then that was his business. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of being her own enemy. She had to stop beating herself up, so she did what she did best.

She took her own action. She had her friends gathered as well as friends and associates of Marco from Earth. His parents couldn't make it, however, and Star had neglected to inform them of their son's doings and his intentions. They were good people, she thought, but she still had the sense that they couldn't be left in the dark forever. Sooner or later, they'd find out. It was all that she could hope that it wouldn't have to be her who'd have to tell them.

Using her handy Butterfly form, she opened portals here and there to assemble those who could make it. Excluding those relevant in her own life, she was able to pick up Janna and Jackie from Earth but surprisingly, Starfan13 declined due to the fact that she was feeling unwell. Alphonso and Ferguson didn't come as well, but that was purely because they didn't want to.

"Marco hasn't really been a friend to them lately," Janna had said strangely, and that was that. With that in mind, Star finally brought them to her bedroom where the others were waiting. Unsurprisingly, Janna and Tom hailed each other almost as soon as they saw one another; they had a lot in common.

"Alright, so everyone knows each other, right? Except for Jackie?" Star nudged Jackie to introduce herself to her own friends from Mewni before she 'called the meeting to order'.

"A meeting?" Kelly said in disgust. "That's what you're calling this? This is the worst thing that's happened since… _ever_. I still don't believe that Marco did this! He wouldn't kill anyone! I doubt he's even willing to hurt _anyone_."

"That's not true!" Pony Head argued. "I heard from B-fly that he choked her last night! About that… Star," she started to apologize, but her best friend cut her off mid-speech.

"It's fine, Pony Head, I wouldn't have believed me either if I were you, 'cause it did sound crazy. Besides me, Kelly, when I went to pick up the girls on Earth, I wasn't really hearing good things."

"I'm holding you accountable to most of that, Star," Jackie deadpanned. "Marco's been acting like a jerk ever since he came back from Mewni. We couldn't even get in contact with you to tell you what's been going on. What's up with that?"

"She's just been busy-" Tom started to say, but got interrupted.

"Busy?" Jackie asked in a way that she thought that the Lucitor was ignorant. "How can she be too busy for her best friend?"

"Obviously not best friends anymore," Pony Head mumbled silently. "Star, haven't you gotten 'em up to speed? Especially about since what happened at your birthday party?"

"Janna told me about that. As far as I see it," Jackie explained, "You don't have to take junk presents from anyone, but it'd at least look gracious if you at least acted like you appreciated what he got for you. It sounded to me like he really put a lot of consideration into it."

"I did appreciate it," Star defended in a meek tone. "But things really went south when Marco started telling everyone that he had a voice in his head, and it was telling him to do things." Jackie and Janna were hearing this for the first time and asked the princess to explain. "He basically heard from the voice that magic was a bad thing, and it was telling him to destroy it."

"Oh?" This part sounded familiar to the girls from Earth. He had indeed said that magic was a 'bad' thing.

"Uh huh. No one was taking that well. Especially since Toffee, another villain, tried to do the same thing."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kelly's eyes narrowed in anger. " _Another villain?_ Do you even hear yourself, Star? That means that you're calling Marco **a** villain!"

"Kelly, in case you haven't noticed, there's a guy out there in the hallways who would say the same thing if he could," Tom spat in disgust. "You know why he wouldn't say it right now? He's _dead_. Most of his insides were out of him all over the place."

"And how do you know that Marco did it? Were you there when it happened?"

"There was an eyewitness, Kelly," Star said quietly. "It was another squire. It was, in fact, one of his friends on Mewni and he ran away when he saw her. That's what she says."

"Maybe Marco found the guy like that, and ran away because he thought he'd be accused-"

"Kelly," Janna spoke to the girl with the body-hair, "just drop it. We're all Marco's friends here, and we want to believe that he wouldn't kill anyone. Bottom line is, he _has_ been getting unstable, at least while he was back on Earth. He had a short temper and he was triggered every time someone so much as mentioned Star's name. He even nearly beat a guy to death when he could've just ran if he didn't want to fight him."

"But why was he triggered?" Jackie asked the million dollar question. "He said that he'd always been putting everything he had into looking out for Star's best interests, and the one time he wanted help, she threw him under the bus." At this point, it was easily noticeable that Star's eyes were wandering in nervousness, and Jackie couldn't help but call her out. "Star…? Spill it."

"Well… ever since Marco started preaching about 'magic's gonna cause the apocalypse', and 'magic's gonna be the death of us', the Commission started to think that Marco was corrupted and becoming evil. I basically… tried to convince everyone that he was crazy. I think that there's a law that says that crazy people can't be judged like a normal person, and it'd be the perfect way to make him look innocent instead of being guilty. So I basically… lied. But I did it to protect him!" she said in a hurry, in order to not blacken herself before her friends too much.

Pony Head snorted as soon as she reminisced to when Star had explained that Marco was messing with her. "Oh, Marco's a petty boy, huh? He turned evil because Star made him look crazy? Earth Turd is turdin' it up, if you ask me."

"So instead of helping him… all you really did was to lie to all of us that he was off his rocker? You lied that he was suffering the side effects of a spell him?" Kelly folded her arms in anger, some of it directed at herself for ever even believing the princess. "What if he's right about magic, Star?"

"What if he's wrong, Kelly?"

"If someone's been keeping track of how many times Marco's been right versus how many time's he's been wrong… I'd say that we're looking pretty bad."

"At least we didn't kill anyone, Kelly," Tom commented coldly.

"You still believe that he did it? I think we should have a talk with the eye-witness-…"

Jackie sighed tiredly, and for some reason, this ceased all the arguing as everyone focused their attention on her. Without any ado, Thomas spoke what was on her mind. "Marco's been weird his whole life, or at least, he's been weird to _me_. It took a bizarre amount of freakish incidents to happen before we ended up dating, but as we got to learn about each other, I realized that he was a sweet guy-... don't get me wrong, there's no such thing as a saint, but I guess he's pretty close to it. Maybe I'm biased, but who knows? After he came back from Mewni, me and Janna confronted him for the first time about how he was acting, he started to emanate something. I think it was like his feelings-… we were actually _feeling_ his feelings! It felt like pure anger and hatred and…" Jackie easily remembered the scene and had to take a deep breath to steady herself. "I'm gonna be honest, it scared the crap out of me. It was frightening to see him like that. Not scary overall, but to see that kind of behavior coming from him. But at the very least, I know it's _still_ him. I couldn't reach out to him, and while he was forcing us to leave, the same aura that I was sensing from him changed a little. I know that I felt sorrow and regret in it, and if I have to say anything that's certain, it's that whatever influence he's under, it's controlling him and if he's doing these things, he's not completely aware of it and he's still Marco. Whether or not magic is truly a bad thing, Marco knows better than to try to accomplish things like this. We shouldn't be sitting around and 'discussing things', we shouldn't be forming a lynch mob, and we shouldn't be arguing whether or not Marco's a saint or evil incarnate. He's capable of doing bad things, but 'Marco' is NOT doing these things. You feel me?"

"I feel you," Janna agreed. "And we can hash out judgments later. But right now, we need to find him and stop him from doing anything that he shouldn't. Once we've got him under control, we can figure things out from there."

"Easier said than done," Tom muttered.

"Sounds like you don't even want to say it," Kelly observed. "I know that you're not on the best terms with Marco-"

"I'm not. I think that he's dangerous, and he hurt Star! So help me, if I see him, he's gonna get incinerated…!" Tom wasn't honey-glazing his words; he meant every word he said, true and raw. "Misunderstandings or not, voices or not, magic or not. I've already drawn the line, and I'm gonna make sure he doesn't cross it!"

…

Now by himself in his own dimension, Omnitraxus Prime was busying himself by trying to find Marco in the dimensions by using his seeking abilities but found that he could not. He knew that he existed but could not find him as he could only scrutinize the dimensions by locations, not by specific persons; apparently, Marco was hiding out in places that even Omnitraxus wouldn't think of looking or wasn't familiar with. As a precaution, he looked in on other realities to see if other Marcos were still visible in alternate universes, and it was clear that he was. However, while doing so, he noticed that Marco was still and always was a settled youth, one who had always met Star Butterfly at some point, had never degenerated to a point so low that he'd become villainous. He'd never met Appendaxuz in other universes and timelines. Never.

"So is our Marco a deviant?" the demigod asked himself. "While all of the Marcos vary in some degree, everything follows a general line of events-… why has **this** Marco become an insurgent?"

He didn't know. But if one thing was certain, he was sure that things were about to take a turn for the worst _very soon._

* * *

 **Well, the ending of season three pushed this fic's schedule back by a while. Sorry.**

 **Anyway, after seeing the season finale, 'Code Name – I am NRG' and I realized that Nefcy loves to drink the tears of fanfic writers. Well, we** _ **ain't**_ **crying. Our fics aren't wrecked because of the presentation of new knowledge, but I do what I do best. I make use of coincidences in the show, and all of their slipups in the storyline.**

 **But regardless, I've figured out my way of amending Meteora into the fic. But I can't have more than two plotlines running at the same time, so she's going on the backburner. Especially since she turned out to be a one-man-army-… no, make that a one-monster-army. I still need to scale up Marco and Higgs more, because I don't want them ending up being weak to Meteora and subservient to her because of her abilities. Furthermore, this also means that I'm going to have to scale up the M.H.C.'s powers too. Such is life.**

 **What I'm really pissed about is Glossaryck. I had plans for that guy in this fic, suspecting that he still had intelligence, but now I guess the surprise is spoilt. Even if I had kept on typing this fic while season three was current, I still wouldn't have gotten to that part of the fic soon enough anyway, so no use bitching about it.**

 **Guess I'll see y'all on Tuesday.**

 **Valete!**


	15. Façade & Fallacy

**Vestiges**

 **15.**

"Star? Star?!" Moon halted her ministrations to snap her fingers in front of Star's face, trying to rouse her daughter who was nodding off even while having her dress fitted on her. "Honestly Star, you're the only person I know who could possibly fall asleep while standing up. Did you even get an hour's worth of sleep last night?"

Star moaned in her usual fashion when something got her nerves. "I got some sleep," she replied using extreme emphasis on 'some', indicating that even an hour's sleep was probably a stretch. She'd gone to bed later than the usual, that was true, but she lacked the capacity to fall asleep; her mind was a storm in a teacup as pertaining to her thoughts and concerns about her (former?) best friend. Even now, he was still on her mind, and Moon could easily tell what was bothering her heiress.

"You were losing sleep over Marco, weren't you? We've already discussed this. As much as it pains you and your father and I, Marco has to be dealt with."

Once she started, Star knew that her mother would begin a tirade. Words began to blur into sentences, and sentences into long-winded topics. All of a sudden, a new thought came to the princess, and she motioned to her mother to hear her out. "If you've got a dog… and you've never looked after it properly… then it gets into trouble…"

Moon was silent, already seeing where this line was going.

"When the dog gets into trouble, does it deserve to be punished? Or you?"

"I doubt he'd go this far for something so petty. But that question sounds rather pointed, Star. Are you accusing me of making Marco become the way he is now?" Moon asked harshly.

"No. I mean all of us. Especially… me, I guess," Star said as best she could, though she nearly felt like crying on the inside. "I mean, yeah, Marco's had his moments when he's done the wrong things for the right reason, maybe this Wellspring deal is one of them, but I can't honestly say that I don't feel kinda responsible. Like the first time when you and dad just dropped me off on Earth right into his _normal_ life. Or all the crazy junk I put him through. Or when he came back to Mewni because he was worried about me trying to fight Toffee. Or when Dad gave him his meat blanket. Or-…"

" **Or** ," the Queen interrupted, finally finishing her task of helping Star into her dress. "It could be that Marco is a closet anarchist. What did you tell me once? That he was a 'misunderstood bad boy'? We don't know if he's always been like this."

"What if _we_ were the ones who made him turn out like this?" Moon didn't answer right away; she stepped aside out of the way between Star and the mirror, allowing her daughter to see herself in her royal attire.

"Do you see her, Star?" Moon asked gently whilst pointing at her daughter's reflection. "She's trying to take responsibility for everyone's actions, and trying to shoulder everyone's guilt. You may have the authority to order people to your whims, but they are still the ones who make the final decisions to do what they see fit. They are responsible for their deeds, as you are responsible for your own. Marco's made his decisions, and now, you'll have to make yours."

"You've already decided what you want to happen!" the princess exclaimed angrily. "You and the rest of the commission! You've already sent out squads to hunt down Marco, and that's if the commission doesn't get to him first!"

"He's declared war on the Magic High Commission, Star. He was actually fortunate to have been exiled back to his _own home_. But now he's proven himself to be a credible threat by committing murder. But tell you what…" Moon tried to think of a way to help her daughter grow into her role as queen, while still accomplishing what needed to be done. "You can choose what is to be done. You'll decide whether or not Marco is pursued, captured, incapacitated or even tried. Once you've made your decision, I'll use my standing in the commission to ensure it's carried out. Sounds agreeable?"

The princess's stare slowly went from her reflection to her mother, then back again. Eying that the robes bore a striking resemblance to the clothes that Moon wore, she realized that this was yet another test.

Between the fact that Marco was a murdering insurgent, and the undeniable reality that he was her best friend (who she might still have feelings for), she found it hard to decide one way or the other.

"Can… Can I have some time to make up my mind?"

"… Fine. But I should have you know that Marco isn't your only friend? What were you to do if he should commit harm to the others?"

Star didn't know. But as she looked down at the Butterfly wand on the table next to her, knowing of the incredible power she wielded when using it, she was afraid that she'd be forced to find out. A small beam of light glinted off of the star that rested in its center.

She was very afraid.

vVv

One of the lead knights nodded in satisfaction as he watched all the subordinates march in orderly files, approaching their places and snapping to attention. "Good, good," Sir Stabby muttered as he surveyed everything. They were all in positions along the borders of the large hall, all according to rehearsal. The only place where they weren't any knights was at the very front of the room on the podium where all the squires were, along with the King and Queen, along with Rhombulous close by who was on magical security detail. As per the rest of the room, it could have been likened to a worship area, like a church, with most of the benches labeled the seating for the different families of the squires who they'd come to support.

It felt like a graduation ceremony-… it was just that, but altogether more serious and with supplementary security.

As Sir Stabby noted these things, he saw that there was one knight who seemed out of place to him. Not weird, per se, but literally out of place, as he looking about as if he was searching for his spot. Observing the star-shaped emblem over his heart, Sir Stabby felt his anger starting to boil. "That clueless bastard!" he fumed to himself before trying to get the hapless knight's attention. "Oi! Emanedoc!" he hissed. "Emanedoc!"

The knight didn't answer or even look around properly to acknowledge that he'd been called. He did glance around a bit, however, as people usually did to see who was being called by a certain name. This was a bit confusing to the lead knight, but he motioned to Emanedoc to go stand at his place by the front-most congregational bench that was to be seated by the princess and her friends. Emanedoc was a bit dim to understand right away, but he soon realized what he had to do, and did it.

"Damn that Emanedoc!" Sir Stabby cursed to himself. "If he hadn't missed the rehearsal, then this wouldn't have happened A knight not knowing his place…?! How shameful!"

Meanwhile, Emanedoc wasn't having that much better of a chastisement from someone else, however, the actuality was that he was being chided by a voice in his head. _**"Marco, you very nearly botched things. What if you hadn't looked around when you did, you would have been approached and accosted by that knight. Then this attempt to get into Sienna's good graces would've been for naught."**_

"Well, it worked out," Marco whispered. "But what kind of a name is 'Emanedoc'?"

Appendaxuz resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _**"It sounds rather backwards, but for today, it will be your name. The poor fool you debilitated and stole the armor from must be the bearer of the name, and that's that."**_

"True… but Emanedoc?" Marco grumbled.

"Um… dude?" A voice asked from beside Marco. It sounded all too familiar, and it was with dread that Marco looked down at the person who sat in the pew he was standing against, only to realize that it was _Janna_.

From behind his helmet, his eyes widened in apprehension as he peered at the girl who was staring at him strangely. Was he already caught? 'Oh shit-'

"Why the heck are you mumbling to yourself about your name as if you don't like it?" she asked in her usual lackadaisical tone.

To her, he dared not speak, not even breathe; wasn't he already discovered? For a whole tense minute, the insurgent stood stock still, afraid that he was already made and about to be confronted by the dozens of knights in the hall. Before he recovered enough to even think about making a run for it or doing something of the like, the girl waved him off. "You know what? Forget it, I've lost interest."

'…Huh?' Marco suddenly became confused and it was in this that he exhaled all the stale air in his lungs with a sigh. 'I thought she found out it was me…'

" _ **Given your bad habit to speak to me audibly instead of in the privacy of your mind, you very nearly got caught, Diaz!"**_ Appendaxuz chastised his vessel almost severely enough for it to physically hurt, especially since Marco knew he was right. _**"Speak in your mind, boy!"**_

Through the slits of his helmet, Marco gazed at Janna who sat on the bench right next to him. 'Right, right, it won't happen again. That was close.'

" _ **Knowing you, it WILL happen again. Hopefully, it'll be in a situation more allowable than this. Speaking of which, she probably didn't recognize your voice because you spoke lowly and it was somewhat altered by the hollowness of the helmet you're wearing."**_ In more appreciation, Marco fidgeted in the armor uncomfortable armor that he was starting to dislike and realized that at the very least, the helmet had prevented him from ending up in a horrible fix.

'True, true.' As best as he could to avoid the helmet from creating any possible sound of rubbing noise, he turned his head to survey those who sat on the bench. It was a long pew, that was true, and it was more than enough to seat _all of them_.

All of his former friends, that is.

The fact that Janna was there should've been enough, but he was too damn curious. Seeing Tom, Kelly and Pony Head didn't help matters, either. Just the knowledge of them being right there next to him was enough to set him off-… all of them who'd sided with Star once she spewed her lies… not one of them who would even hear him out.

Well, they've made it clear who they were friends with, no? Not the guy who was basically her tagalong for everything. Why should he call them his friends?

And what should he call Star? The thought of her was going to make him go ballistic. Sure, he knew that he was easily triggered into anger whenever she was even faintly involved in his life nowadays, and he hoped that he wouldn't see her, despite the fact that Appendaxuz had claimed to have removed his capacity for anger.

He didn't know that Appendaxuz had only removed his conscience, that is.

Right. Nothing would go wrong. He was in disguise, he was at the front, he'd get to see Sienna in her own personal shining moment. Nothing would go wrong, not if he could help it. Even if it were Star right there, he'd keep it together, at least for her sake.

"Hey, guys!" A bright voice announced from behind him, rapidly approaching the bench he was standing at his post next to. "Sorry I'm late!"

"Oh, hey Star." They more or less greeted as the princess got to her bench. Not even a foot's distance away from the 'knight' that stood edgily next to the bench, Star passed Marco and took a seat beside the Lucitor, planting a peck of a kiss on his cheek when she did. "You sure took your time getting here, huh?"

"Mom was helping me into my dress. Trust me, when I'm queen, I'm gonna put a stop to clothes like that. Two people is one-too-many people when it comes to putting on dresses, believe me. And then I got mixed up trying to find this hall, and…"

As Star continued to give what sounded like pathetic excuses, Marco suffered himself to try not to leap over to her and snap her neck. Oh, right. That was the only good that he had… being her glorified assistant and secretary. He was the one who made sure that she kept to her commitments, made sure that she didn't oversleep and other miscellaneous day-planning things of the sort.

Some 'squire' he was.

Almost as if conscious of his thoughts, Star began to muse as she looked up at the podium where the squires sat facing them, with the King and Queen seated off to the side. It would appear that when their name was called, the squire would get out of their seat and approach the royal couple, whereupon they would be knighted. "You know, if Marco was still here, I'd bet that he would've been knighted today."

"Yeah, well," Tom shrugged, "he's not here, and he _won't_ be knighted. Especially given what he's been doing recently. I don't think that prick deserves it at all."

"Don't be like that, Tom," Janna chided. "You know what she meant. You should've seen him last summer-… must be an entire year ago-… the guy came back from Mewni in a cape, really thinking he was knight status because of what he did."

"Oh… that _cape_ …" Star became noticeably crestfallen, knowing that the cape was literally the King's 'meat-blanket'. "Things didn't go well when he came back."

"The guy literally dropped back into our lives because he missed adventuring," Tom argued. Star was inclined to disagree because of Marco's confession to her in the bathroom but didn't get a chance to say it. Instead, she _sensed_ something new.

"What the heck? Why does it feel chilly all of a sudden?"

"Chilly?" Kelly spoke for the first time, parroting Star. Noticing the drop in temperature, she could nearly swear that it was almost cold enough for her to see her breath. "You're right. But isn't it summer right now?"

"I feel it too… No…" Janna pondered for a moment, trying to figure out the phenomenon. "I've felt this _before_."

"Of course we all have. In wintertime."

"Naw. I've felt this _last month_ ," Janna replied, startling those who could hear her. She started looking around as if trying to spot someone, but couldn't find the person of interest. "When me and Jackie-"

"Speaking of Jackie, where is she?" Star interrupted. "I thought for sure that I invited you all to come."

"She's not feeling well," Janna answered with an air of annoyance. "As I was saying, Jackie and I felt this last month. From Marco. It's like his raw emotions or something. You kinda feel this aura from him when he's uber angry."

"So… freakish temperature drops aside," Kelly remarked in skepticism, "That's why you're looking around? To see if you could spot Marco in _here_? Why would he even be here? Why would he even get angry right now?"

"I dunno. Maybe he's pissed that he's not up there with the other squires?" 'Or what if he's hearing what we're saying right **now**?'

This discussion began to ramble a bit, as Marco began to try to will himself to feel less anger, knowing that they were already suspicious of his presence in the hall, much less right in their proximity. On cue, Appendaxuz dampened the emotion, as he ceased to expel his aura. From behind his helmet, his glowing crescents on his cheeks faded back into normalcy, and all was right again. He resumed watching the ceremony with more attention, regarding the squires approaching the King and Queen who would knight them in intervals whenever their name was called. He did this in trying to take his mind off the fact that his former peers were discussing him. That was soon discovered impossible, due to the fact that they were now conversing how he had even returned to Mewni.

"I told you before, Star," Pony Head commented carelessly. "One does not simply _walk_ from Earth to get to Mewni."

"So how'd he even get back?" Kelly wondered out loud, "I thought his room was locked up magically and everything that he owned was in there, including his dimensional scissors."

"Oh…" Star most decidedly had a guilty look on her face, and Tom noticed. "Oh no, Star. I know that you used to hide out from your parents in there! What did you do?"

"I… errm… lost the key to it. I think someone stole it. But don't tell my mom; she doesn't know. She and the rest of the Magic High Commission would freak if they found out that it's probably my fault he's back. Someone probably got in, and used his scissors to get to him."

"You _think_ someone stole the key to get his scissors? Well, could be, or someone else already had dimensional scissors and brought him here," Kelly put in her two cents.

"Nah. It doesn't matter which," Janna said coolly. "I think I know the _person_ either way."

Marco stiffened. 'Oh, no-… Sienna's gonna get found out!' Without even realizing it, he very nearly let go of the spear that he carried (as part of his disguise) to reach for the hunting sword which hung from his belt, but stayed his hand when he heard what Janna said next.

"But I can't quite remember her name…" Janna mumbled, sneaking her hand underneath her hat to scratch her head. "She showed up at Star's B-day party looking for Marco last year, and she came to his house last month too. Damn, what's her name again? It's on the tip of my tongue. It was 'H'-something. Hmm…"

"Don't you just hate when that happens?" Pony Head said while clicking her tongue. "Try to remember, gurl! At least we'll find out who his accomplice is or something." Hoping against hope, Marco tried to think of a way to stop this from going any further but found none. Luckily, Appendaxuz was able to, and the entity told him what to do.

"Milady?" Marco said as deeply as he could, hoping that the lower tone of his voice along with the helmet would disguise it. "The King and Queen are looking this way. You're interrupting the ceremony."

"Huh?" Everyone turned their heads away from each other to regard the King and Queen, who was indeed staring at them in such a way that would let them know that they were committing a social misstep. "Oh, right. It can wait 'till afterwards." Star cautioned. With a silent sigh of relief, Marco allowed himself to calm down, not even noticing that Janna was now staring at him with a bit of suspicion. It was just as well, however, as Marco realized that a particular factor about the formal procedure; every squire approached the royal couple after their _name_ was called out loud by the herald.

" _ **I suppose that did very little to help things,"**_ Appendaxuz observed out loud, _**"Since her name will be called and it'll remind your former friend, that is, if she doesn't remember the name first. At least for now, Higgs is out of sight, probably seated behind someone taller than her in alphabetical order, so she cannot be pointed out by Janna. I suggest you do something quickly… they're calling the knights by last names, and the knight calling the names is currently on the surnames beginning with 'F'."**_

Marco was silent. Both externally and internally. He knew what he had to do. He just wasn't sure if he could actually do anything that wouldn't damn Sienna or himself-… after-all, doing anything to Janna would be seen by probably more than a hundred pairs of eyes, and that would include his former friends, the royal couple and Rhombulous. But yet still, it wouldn't matter. What if Janna didn't notice her after all, hmm? What about later? What would stop Janna from recalling her name later, or even bumping into Sienna somewhere in the castle?

Unknown to him, this was the same predicament that Sienna had gone through the evening before, and he was coming to the same decision.

Janna had to go. Permanently.

This, strangely, bothered him very little. For a lengthening amount of time, he'd become so estranged from the people he used to rub shoulders with regularly, so much so that he'd become devoted to the girl who had still remembered him. The one who still had faith in him. The one who still had deep consideration for him. The one who toiled for eighteen years just to see him again.

This was going to hell. Should he just portal out, and snatch Higgs with him? Or make a huge distraction so that the ceremony would be ruined and then warn her later that she would've been discovered by a former friend? What to do?

Marco, for a second, felt the urge to turn his helmeted head to gaze behind him. Seated in all the benches were reserved seating for all the families and friends of the squires getting honored. All of the pews had at least one supporter, be it a relative or associate or acquaintance. But there was one bench that Marco had walked past when he had first entered the hall, all the way to the back with the 'Higgs' name title.

The bench was completely empty.

"… _I want you to come. Supporting me and all that junk."_

" _Isn't something like that exclusive? And extremely guarded?" He knew it was dangerous, but he still made up his mind to come anyway. "Alright, I'll come support you… although this is a terrible risk."_

"… _Thanks, Marco. I'm grateful."_

All of a sudden, that small request now had so much more meaning behind it, even more than he'd thought possible. From behind metallic plating, a lone tear fell from his eye as he watched the ceremony like a slow-motion wreck. More than anything he wanted, he wished to escape with the squire before they were accosted, but more than anything _she_ wanted, she wished to have some support from a friend as she finally got acknowledged for her efforts in getting to this point.

To intervene would mean that they would both be discovered, and engaged in a fight. To not intervene would mean that she would be discovered by Janna and caught. To teleport to Higgs and then warping out would reveal their guilt.

The time was little, slipping from him. As it did, Marco felt more and more conflicted and confused as to what he should do. The spear in his hand that he held as he stood at attention was beginning to get crushed to splinters in his grip as the Diaz's inner storm continued. The sound of this was overheard by Janna, and she looked up at the armored 'knight' next to her in deepening suspicion.

Then, suddenly, it was too late to act, even if he wanted to.

"Higgs…! Come forth and kneel before the throne!" The herald called. Out of the small crowd on the podium, a ginger-redhead girl stood up out of the crowd. Stepping out from between the rows, the lithe squire began to march towards the king and queen. As was decorum for a ceremony such as this, one was expected to be stoic, but Marco could easily see a ghost of a smile on her face. He could well imagine that she was guessing that he was in the room somewhere, watching as she was about to get accredited. However, as she was approaching the throne(s) where the Queen and the King sat, Janna needed no further hints as to the name and description of the person that was lacking in her memory and gaped when she saw her.

Noticing this, Marco could do nothing. Yet still, he could only listen as Janna began to furiously whisper to the rest of the others as to the girl's relationship with him, and hear their mixed reactions. That was it. He'd done nothing, and everything was about to happen.

He felt strangely satisfied; what would happen after the ceremony was of little significance anyway. After all, they would soon leave Mewni anyway, weren't they?

Sienna, mercifully ignorant that she was no longer thought innocent about her connection to him, finally made it to her place and knelt before the throne, her hands fists-down and her head bowed. Seeing this, the herald went back to the scrolls and read from the one that was specific to the squire. "Be it known to all that Queen Moon is minded to raise Higgs by virtue of her honor, loyalty, valor and skill at arms, to the high rank of knighthood. By becoming a page, she had sworn to do all that her master, Sir Stabby, requested, no matter how menial. By becoming a squire, she had sworn to _be_ all that they would need to be, a growing individual of great service to Mewni. Today, they will swear heart fealty to Queen Moon and King River, and acknowledge them as her true and lawful liege, to defend and obey until the Queen and King depart the throne, or until death takes her."

There was a brief pause here. It was as if it was meant to give every squire a last chance to hesitate to think whether or not being knighted was something they wanted. It was not unheard of to refuse; after all, Old Guy had refused his many times for reasons known only to him. To simply obey the rulers were one thing. To basically accept that they were the rulers of everything, including even your passing _thoughts_ was another.

Strangely enough, to Marco at least, he believed that he could see that she was actually thinking about it. He personally didn't care whether she was knighted or not, as she already made it clear to him where her loyalties lied.

Then why did he feel so apprehensive?

After the moment had passed, Queen Moon got out of her chair, and turned adjacent to pick up a royal sword that lied on a velvet-lined cushion atop a pedestal, and approached the squire kneeling before her. The ceremony, in this fashion, was becoming monotonous as the ritual had followed this pattern for each squire until now, but the Queen herself was beginning to have a sense of foreboding. She paused a moment when she got to the girl who was kneeling before her. Something felt out of the ordinary with her, though nothing _seemed_ that way on the surface.

She was a veteran queen, being one ever since she was young when her mother had passed on. She'd gotten through many conflicts and tribulations solely on instincts. Those were what they were all based on. But Moon couldn't break the decorum; she was totally unlike her daughter in this regard, and against her better nature, continued. Angling the sword as she was about to knight the girl, she then spoke her oration.

"Do you, Higgs, solemnly swear and pledge to uphold the honor of knighthood?"

Still, with her head down, Higgs answered as would anyone else in her position. "I do so solemnly swear and pledge to uphold the honor of knighthood."

Right… There was nothing wrong. With the smallest of nods, the Queen continued. "Do you, Higgs, solemnly swear and pledge your sword, mind and heart to me, your Queen and to the King, to defend and obey until we depart the throne, or until death takes you?"

"…" It was silent for a few seconds, as per procedure. From where he stood, Marco thought he could see Sienna's hand slightly twitch as if she'd crossed her fingers. No one else would be able to notice this given how low her hand was to the ground, not unless they were looking out for this in particular but Marco did as he knew that it was her relentless habit whenever she lied. But to his surprise, her hand relaxed as if she'd uncrossed them.

 _She wasn't about to lie._

Even more baffling and to everyone present, the girl lifted her head and got to her feet, stood tall and looked Queen Moon in the face, utterly breaking the ritual with utter sacrilege.

"No."

* * *

 **Welp, I guess you know that everything's going to shit next time-... it's quite a way to tell the Queen to 'fuck off'. Thought of starting the conflict with this chapter, but it deserved its own chappie. I'm not a penner of long epic fights like Emanedoc… whoops, I mean Code Name (LOL, no insults meant with what was said in the chapter), but I'll give it my best. I already have some ideas for it. Ass will be sufficiently kicked and blood will be spilled.**

 **See you then.**


	16. Unleashed: Knight

**Vestiges**

 **16.**

 **\Knight/**

"No."

The Queen was dumbstruck. "…What…?"

She'd done dozens of knightings ever since she became Queen of Mewni when she was a teenager. Sure, there had been some refusals. Most people were content to merely accept her as Queen. It was another thing to take on the title of a Knight, which would mean that you'd have to kill yourself for entertainment if the Royal Couple were bored enough, although they had no desire for that. Extra responsibilities, more pressure, things like that tended to make some people go against being knighted.

This girl…

As she gaped at the girl before her, flabbergasted, Moon realized that this wasn't the issue. For starters, there were more tact ways of refusing to be knighted. _One did not simply stand up in the middle of the ceremony and tell the Queen NO._ It was the same as spitting in her face.

The girl's face was stoic, yet Moon read the expression behind it.

" _Do you, Higgs, solemnly swear and pledge to uphold the honor of knighthood?"_

" _I do so solemnly swear and pledge to uphold the honor of knighthood."_

" _Do you, Higgs, solemnly swear and pledge your sword, mind and heart to me, your Queen and to the King, to defend and obey until we depart the throne, or until death takes you?"_

" _No."_

There was a reason for answering like that. She was willing to be a knight, but not for the royal couple. She was a knight for _somebody else._

In all of her musings, Higgs continued to silently level a stare at the Queen. There was a look in her cold green eyes that intimidated the Queen; this wasn't a girl that stood before her, almost as if she was in a subtle fighting stance. Perhaps a woman? Regardless, there was someone older in her place, someone who'd experienced plenty, someone who was no stranger to doing whatever necessary action in order to get what she wanted. Someone who was willing to shed blood, innocent blood if needs be.

Her right hand seemingly lingered close to what looked like a sword-like knife that hung from her waist. It was in this instance that, somehow, the Queen knew that the closer she was to the girl before her, the closer to actually dying she was. Perhaps if she'd actually tried to knight the squire with the sword in her hands, to tap it at her shoulders next her neck, Moon would have gotten herself cut open in retaliation.

It was then that **Moon the Undaunted** actually dropped the sword and took a step backwards, completely unnerved.

The significance of this was lost on nearly everyone, but it was in this moment that the entire hall erupted into chaos as everyone tried to make themselves heard. Most were yells pertaining to the fact that the squire had no respect or fear for her superiors, and had committed sacrilege in what was an honorable ceremony. Despite the noise, Sir Stabby was the first and only one to make himself heard over the noise.

"Higgs!" the man shouted, "what's the meaning of this?! You've committed pure irreverence and you've brought nothing but shame upon yourself and to me! Why would-"

"Sir Stabby," Higgs said calmly, interrupting the man. "… Go fall over a knife."

The man sputtered. "Wh-what? Why're you acting like this? Have you been _bewitched_?!"

"That's not why!" All heads turned to see the new speaker or shouter as it were. It was Tom, and the Lucitor stood up to help his voice carry throughout the hall. "I just found out that she's always been Marco's friend! What's more, SHE'S the one who brought Marco back to Mewni! That means that the squire that got killed yesterday… she was in on it!" He then pointed at the squire, completely livid although the girl wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "You!" Tom roared. "WHERE IS MARCO?"

Higgs nearly looked directly at Marco; she knew where he was. There was only one person in the entire hall who had a hunting sword, much less wore it the way that he did. The fact that he was standing so close to the front also made it easier to notice him in particular. However, the response as to where he was didn't come from her, nor from him. In fact, it came from the girl who sat on the bench right next to where he stood.

"Marco got angry and released his aura when Star showed up and got even more pissed when we discussed him," she said quietly, yet everyone around her heard her voice. "When he realized that we were catching on to the fact that he was in here, he tried to calm himself down. He'd have to be really _close_ to hear us. He'd also be the only person who'd actually try to tell Star to stop doing something, especially if it meant that he was protecting his own friend from being discovered," she said coolly, hinting to the fact that she was talking about Higgs. "Furthermore, Marco is too damn sensitive to the little things, and he was grumbling over the name of his disguise."

"So where is he?" Tom demanded, not able to process what she was saying due to his growing angered inclination to find Marco and roast him alive.

Janna then thumbed at the knight who stood still right next to her, pointing directly at him in her usual jaded manner. "Marco's right here."

Everywhere fell silent as if a bombshell had been dropped on them. In the wake of this, Marco took off his helmet slowly, and underneath, his face was revealed, from the familiar complexion to the glowing crescents on his cheeks. Almost on cue, his aura that he radiated whenever he was immensely angry began to flow from him, and the feelings it emanated was enough to drive the civilians out of the hall, screaming as they went. "I'm almost glad I was caught," he said slowly, "the smell of this musty helmet was starting to piss me off." He turned to those who still occupied the bench, looking at those he had once considered his friends one by one. "It's been a while… Janna… Kelly… Pony Head… Tom… _Star_ …" He said the last name with noted rage, something they all felt. "… Did you miss me? 'Cause I sure as hell didn't."

"Enough." The Queen demanded. "Diaz, why are you here?"

"Oh you know," the boy said easily as he started to walk forward to the podium with hardly a care, removing the armor of his disguise as he went. "I came here to support my knight."

"Your _knight_?"

"My knight," he reaffirmed. "I came here to support her on the day she's recognized for all of her hard work. Now that that's done, I guess we should make our leave unless you _want_ to convince us otherwise to stay." By now, he'd removed all his armor, and clad only in his sweater and skinny jeans, and swaddling black robes by the time he made it to the podium next to Higgs. Something about him commanded respect, and the way he stood next to Higgs gave the impression that they were two people not to be taken lightly.

"Are we running?" Sienna asked quietly so that only he could hear.

"Do you know what 'Removal of the Defender' is?"

She cocked her head in thought. "Isn't that a chess tactic? For when you need to take out a strong enemy pawn?

"Dead on." Marco turned his head to look at Rhombulus who was now standing next to the king, unsure if he should get involved or continue to defend the royal couple as he was pre-ordered to. "We're killing the 'Gods', and Rhom-Blockhead's the first."

"Great," Sienna grumbled. "And here I thought that our goal wasn't hard enough already."

"What are you two whispering about?" Moon asked before she shook her head. "No, never mind. I hope you came with the intent of submitting yourself… _because you'll never leave_. You have a lot to answer for!"

"Oh? You're all talk." Hardly had he sensed this did Appendaxuz speak up from the boy's mind.

" ** _Marco… I sense that you wish to deal with Rhombulus first, I urge you to consider the time and place. You and the girl are outnumbered. There's also Moon to account for, the numerous knights, the Lucitor and the princess-"_**

"The princess, the princess, the princess!" Marco fumed to Appendaxuz as much as to everyone else. "It's always about _her,_ isn't it?! And why should I care?! I'm going to demolish the Wellspring, even if I have to walk over her dead body to get there!"

"You see? He's not a 'good' guy!" Tom grunted to Star. "He's really just another bad guy, _and_ he's a murderer!"

"Marco!" Star yelled as she stood up to face her former crush, ignoring Tom's complaint. "Look, this is going too far! I don't know why you're insisting on doing this… I don't know if it's because magic makes you feel powerless… Or what happened in the bathroom… Or if it's about what happened on my birthday, or even if it's because I made everyone think you were losing your mind even when you weren't. I'm sorry if I'm to blame because of this, but you can't be doing this because you think-"

"Star?" Marco interrupted. "…Fuck off."

Star froze in disbelief at what she had heard; the knights in the hall were only a bit better but fell into chaos once more. The Queen shouted for them to stand strong, and ordered them to detain the pair of insurgents. Sienna withdrew her tanto-like knife in a reverse grip and entered her stance, while Marco pulled out his sword and aimed it at the queen.

"I declared war on the M.H.C. Your knights are just pawns; they don't have to die, but they don't have to live either. If it means that I get to cross over to the other side of the board easier, then I will CLEAR them out of my way!"

"What?" The odd statement had thrown her off, and made her confused long enough for the first of the knights to get to Sienna and Marco. In a vicious counter, Marco hacked his hunting sword through an unarmored knight's chest and killed him instantly, before slashing his sword once more through the collarbone through another, right into the muscles and sub-clavicle vein and arteries. He then dived at another knight in a tackle off of the podium and sliced his neck open before they even hit the floor, and leaped away to engage even more of the knights.

Sienna was much more fluid-… despite being in the younger version of herself and having her close-quarters-combat techniques lessened by reach, she was still, quite unbelievably, _untouchable_. In truth, there was no invincibility; she was reliant on a technique she'd picked up in Hekapoo's dimension, and learned how to will her body to produce and release adrenaline whenever she wanted it. Quicker, stronger, faster reflexes, with a somewhat faster perception of time. Along with her own lithe body and her strong lightweight knife, she was one of the deadliest people she knew.

Her left hand was bare, and she had her knife (ten inches of the sharpest blade to be found for miles) in her right hand. It was as if she had some sort of invisible killing zone around her, and anything that entered her proximity was guaranteed death. Every move was another step of a deadly dance, one of constant evasion and counterattacks; she backhanded a spear from stabbing through her, and slid her knife through the ribcage of the knight that had affronted her, piercing his heart with cold steel. In the same breath, she ducked a sword that would've beheaded her and strafed around the knight who had tried to attack her from her blindspot. His jugular was slit; and the man collapsed, clutching at his neck as if he could keep himself from bleeding out. However, her 'invincibility' was tested when a sword grazed her-… although it was a _very_ small cut, it was the first 'injury' she'd ever gotten since perfecting the close-quarters-combat style she'd developed when she was attempting Hekapoo's trial.

"Marco?" she called with a small bit of concern, seeing that the number of knights was still numerous. Engaging in his own conflicts, he still found the time to actually glance to the girl who was helping to fight in his cause.

"Yeah?"

"There's a lot of 'em. Is there a general plan here?"

Before he could answer, the doors to the hall were thrown open with such force that it sounded over the din of the battle. Everyone's eyes shifted to the figure of the new person to arrive, but the light shining from behind them made it hard to make out their facial features.

"…A plan, you say? Failing to plan is _planning to fail_."

There were a select few who recognized the voice, and their fears were realized once he fully came into view, fully attired in his signature suit. "Toffee?!" Queen Moon gasped, seeing the Septarian. "But how is this possible-?!"

"I have no obligation to tell you why." The entire hall fell silent, and the entire battle was at a standstill as they gazed at the supposedly dead monster who had, singlehandedly, brought Mewni to its knees. However, that silence was broken when Marco grinned widely when he realized that he'd procured some extra help.

"Oi, Bishop!" Marco yelled unexpectedly, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm _glad_ to see you." Everyone was stupefied to hear this, and became even more so at the Septarian's response when he heard his title, especially once he noticed the boy's glowing crescents on his cheeks.

"Ah, my King…" He did a half-bow, before lifting his head. "What services can I offer?"

"My knight's feeling a bit overwhelmed," Marco called back, almost in a cheeky tone. "Could you do something about that?"

Toffee's eyes swept over the halls, noting how most of the knights were gathering at the front to fight Higgs and Marco. "…But of course. I presume that your knight is the ginger-haired girl? In the blue tunic?"

"You presume right," Higgs remarked easily, though she was trembling on the inside. How the hell did the monster that threatened Mewni come back to life, and why was he calling Marco 'King'? It dawned on her that she had stumbled into something far greater than herself, yet it felt appropriate. Her draw to Marco was that strong, and she didn't feel like asking those kinds of questions now; they could wait until later.

"Understandable. Bishops stand alongside Knights, after all." To end the apparent unintentional cease-fire, a knight close to Toffee tried to cleave his head off with an axe. Toffee seemed to hesitate for a moment to allow him to get closer, before grabbing the axe away from the knight. With a powerful low swing, he lopped off the knight's leg, and just as the crippled knight fell to the floor on his back screaming, Toffee smashed the blade of the axe into his forehead with so much force that his skull was entirely gouged in with a spatter, brain matter and bone going to pieces all over the floor. His barbaric act held everyone speechless for a moment before all order was lost once more. Rhombulus was torn between whom he should fight, Higgs or Marco or Toffee, but once the King and Queen made it their choice to fight the Lizard, he knew that it was where his duties lied.

Although he was nervous, to say the least. This was the Lizard who'd taken down the M.H.C. easily, after all, and absorbed their powers when he'd corrupted the wand.

"But he hasn't corrupted the wand, so I should be able to beat him with Queen Moon," he reasoned out loud. He tried to find a little courage, and following most of the knights, the King and the Queen who had changed into her Butterfly state, they charged at the Bishop.

Toffee looked at them in his usual jaded stare and ever so calmly, took off his tie and rolled it up, and placed it in his pants pocket.

In the midst of her own conflict, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd really been a subservient squire to 'knights' of this weak caliber.

"A lack of a war made them all soft…"

Perhaps there was truth to what Marco had said when it pertained to Toffee's assail on Mewni. Had they really been running scared while that monster was on the loose while in the body of Ludo?

And speaking of said monster…

"Why the hell is he working with us?" she mumbled to herself as she continued to fight, "and more importantly, why the hell are we working with _him_? And why did Marco call him 'Bishop'? I wonder…" It came to her that something must've happened between Marco and Eclipsa last night. Glancing at her crush, she noted how he seemed to fight with a strong fervor; although it was clear that he was skilled, even more than her, it was a bit brutish in comparison to her own methods.

They were killing people.

"If Mewni is the dimension that abuses magic and causes the apocalypse, then we'll **burn** it, along with the aristocrats who sit in the high positions. They've already gotten their warnings." With this statement, like an embedded hook finally coming free, long-forgotten memories due to Hekapoo's trial came rushing back. She'd ridiculed him, made him miserable, and what she'd done in Quest Buy was only the start. Betting on his life, however, that sealed it. An unrealized tear came into her eye, and on reflex, she blinked it away quickly before it hampered her. "I wasn't always his friend. He didn't even know me that well, or why I had so much work at the time, but he helped me when I lost the bet. Damn, I was such a _bitch_. But he forgave me… we became friends…! But _his_ friends… The knights…The rulers… The princess… All of Mewni… _they treated him like dirt!_ "

Unknown to herself, but noticed by the last dozen knights that engaged her, the girl had started to fight like one possessed. She moved in blurs, she dodged all that they had to fight her in reprisal, and she always slashed with her vicious knife for the quickest kills. She looked so much younger than them, shorter with less mass and strength, yet fought as if she was used to fighting people with much higher fighting calibers. When she found knights closest to her, be it one at a time, two at a time, three at a time or even four, she evaded their broad-area blows and attacks. When she found weaknesses, no matter for those for some that were armored, she exploited them. When her knife sought flesh, even if it had to be through the slit eyeholes in more than just a few helmets, the blade found their targets. Soon, it seemed that bodies were starting to pile around her, and she still hadn't really moved from her position. It was as if the knights would have been better off throwing themselves against a wall with spears.

" _They treated him like dirt!_ " Sienna ducked and sidestepped a diagonal slash, allowing one knight to injure another severely. Stepping inside the guard of the knight that tried to kill her, her knife slid right through his neck at his adam's apple and straight to the other side at the back before she yanked it out swiftly, letting the man fall to the ground as he choked on his blood. " _They discredited him, insisting that he was of unsound mind!"_ Evading another bisecting blow from a sword, she still got injured by a spear that sliced into her shoulder. Her adrenaline dulled the pain, and lithely dodging the spear on its second attempt to skewer her, she got to the knight and darted around behind him. Grabbing at his head and kneeing him in the back to make him lean against her, she exposed his belly upwards, and drove her knife into his gut with all of her strength repeatedly, even as he writhed pathetically in her grasp. " _He tried to warn them!"_ she yelled, now berserk, " _And they exiled him, forcing him to leave everything behind!"_ Another tear burned at her eye, and this time it stayed. " _To leave me behind! They sent him away, and forced me to be all by myself again!"_

"What are you blathering about?!" A knight yelled as he tried to run her through with his pike. Yet another knight was behind her, and about to grab her to hold her still; the girl thought quickly and pulled out her dimensional scissors. Quickly opening a portal, she jumped down through and fell inside, making the knight to accidentally spear his fellow cohort with his long pike. Unknowingly, a new portal opened up behind the spearer, allowing the girl to fall out sideways feet-first into his back, making him yell in pain. "Gaahhh! You bitch!"

Sienna righted herself quickly as he fell to the floor with her on top of him. Still, with her weight on his back, she reached down and twisted his helmet with a savage jerk, breaking his neck with a sickening snap. Taking up her knife in hand again, as well as her scissors, she realized that her most powerful weapon was the warp scissors, and began roving around, creating more than just a few portals. By the time everything was said and done, she had snipped open six portals normally around her, but their half-dozen exits were also on the podium area in the oddest places. One or two were horizontal in midair above their heads, another few rested flat on the ground, and yet another few opened up out of sight behind some unsuspecting knights.

Standing with the last of the knights that were fighting the insurgent was Sir Stabby, and to say the least, he was immensely angry with his squire. "Higgs! You've brought nothing but shame and dishonor-"

"Shame and dishonor… Is that all you talk about?" the girl taunted as she started to step into a portal. "You're just pissed that I'm not your squire anymore. What, you needed someone to clean your lance? Sharpen your swords, maybe? I'm not your squire… I'm Marco's knight."

"You're a common killer!"

"A common killer?" She gave the man a dirty glance. "And you're one of the _elite_ knights that's in charge of these useless guys who became knights in peaceful times. You're fighting to protect the royal family who're getting fat while everyone else goes hungry, abusing magic that puts the whole universe in jeopardy and-"

"And nothing!" Sir Stabby roared, spittle flying from his mouth. "You should've known your place! Now you have nowhere to return to, and no title as your own!"

"Title?" Sienna mumbled again before she finished entering the portal. Unexpectedly, she emerged from a portal behind a knight, and stabbed her knife into his back, before kicking him off of her blade, blood flying after him. The knights hurriedly tried to rush to attack her, but she hurriedly retreated back into the portal before they got to her. She re-emerged back through the portal she had first entered and stared at Sir Stabby, who glared back. "Aren't you thirty-one years old next month, Sir Stabby? I'll let in on a little secret… I'm thirty-three years old."

"... _What?_ "

"I'm a failure, as according to Hekapoo," Sienna continued in earnest. "I tried different ways and things in order to pass her challenge, but I failed every time. I learnt how to set traps for her, and failed… I learned how to improvise to catch her, and failed... I learned how to track her, and failed… I learned how to develop a photographic memory to target her specifically, and failed. But you just mentioned that I was a common killer… I guess I was. I had to learn how to become mercenary to support myself, but before that happened, I had to learn how to fight. One and one equals two… It's not hard to figure that's I had to learn how to kill people…to learn how to kill very important and _skilled people_. I won't do anything to you… You heard Marco earlier… you guys don't have to live, but you don't have to die, either. Just drop your weapons and find another line of work."

"We won't bow to a bunch of insurgent children!" Sir Stabby bellowed before turning to the last two knights that still supported him as he tried to take the fight to Higgs. "My fellow knights, take her down!"

" _Children_? Haven't you been listening? I'm older than you. I've spent eighteen years…"

They weren't going to listen. She seemingly ghosted to another portal and jumped through; she fell through one of the overhead portals onto another knight's knees first, knocking him to the floor. Before the knight could recover and throw her off, Sienna drove her knife down through his neck where it leveled off into the shoulder. It entered all the way through to the hilt, and actually got stuck when she tried to retrieve it. Sir Stabby advanced upon her, lunging forward with his lance. Higgs had to retreat without her favorite weapon in order to dodge the man's attack but failed as he was too quick; his lance dug into her leg as she tried to get away. Amidst the ache, she could feel her lifeblood beginning to leave her; cursing her carelessness as she limped, she knew that she needed to end the fight before her loss of blood weakened her too much.

"My lance is stained with the blood of a traitor!"

"Damn! When was the last time I cleaned that lance? I would _hate_ to get an infection!" Sienna shouted back as she made her escape through another portal. She reemerged from another portal close to another knight; unfortunately for her, they had wised up to her tricks and tried to face the portals to avoid being attacked in their blind spots. She still had years of experience with her, however. Half-turning to avoid getting through with the sword by the last subservient knight, she rabbit-punched his wrist (in his tendons) to disarm him and grabbed the sword from him. While in his efforts to guard himself against any instant fatal attacks by placing one of his hands over his heart, he pulled out his secondary war-knife from a scabbard on his thigh and tried to defend himself. It didn't stop her full retaliation, however. She paused, using both hands to grip the sword to add more strength behind the blade and drove it, unexpectedly, into his groin. As he doubled-over in pain, now severely debilitated, Higgs flipped the sword around her fingers into a reverse-grip, and drop-impaled him through the back and let him fall lifelessly to the floor.

"You defector! Have you no sense of morality?" The man yelled in frustration as he tried to catch up to her, but failed as she got to another portal and escaped. He stood still, trying to maintain vigilance to ensure that she didn't get the drop on him. "Have you no honor?"

"Don't **you** have any sense?" Snipping a small portal with her scissors to where her knife still was, she reached her hand in, grabbed her knife and pulled it out back towards herself. By now, there was only Sir Stabby himself. He was proving to be a real problem, as he was always quick to respond to when she used her portals. Reluctantly, she closed the original six portals she had created, and the entire dozen portals closed.

"Are you surrendering?"

"…Does the Queen shit in the Forest of Certain Death?" In a riposte to her infuriating response, Sir Stabby charged at the rash girl, but Higgs calmed herself. Sometimes, it was good to anger her opponents to make them lose their cool so that they'd make mistakes. Sir Stabby was still something of an exception, however, and channeled his anger into wild strength. True to his namesake, he stabbed at her with his lance, and upon missing, would withdraw it quickly to stab at her again, or sweep it at her when she would least unexpected it. His movements became rapid in this fashion, his lance blurring, and blurring, and blurring. Dodging was all Higgs could do as she backpedaled from him, as he had a reach advantage with his lance. At the last, his lance was swung and batted at her wrist to knock her knife out of her hands. She was caught off guard in that second, and Sir Stabby capitalized on it, and speared his lance at her, aiming for her midsection. She wildly grabbed at the lance before it stabbed into her, but partially failed.

Sienna felt a foreign in her belly, and let out a cry of pain; she looked down with hazy vision to see that his lance had stabbed into her belly, if only the point. "Ooh… _shit_!" Already, blood was welling up and bled around the lance to drip to the floor with a low pitter-patter.

"You're more trouble than you look, my disgraced squire, but in the end, every traitor falls…"

"A disgraced squire…?" Higgs mumbled before Sir Stabby tried to force the lance into her, intent to finish her off but the girl pushed back on it while backpedaling, though her strength was waning. "A _traitor_? Well…" She tried to find the words, but they refused to come out the way she wanted. Finally, she said what could only be said. "I'm a knight _. I'm_ _his knight."_ She wasn't stabbed all the way through, though Sir Stabby was trying his hardest to complete the job. He, though his strength was greater than the girl's, he still found it nearly impossible to urge the weapon any further. It was either due to some sort of unconscious unwillingness to kill the girl he thought he knew, or she was finding some sort of strength only from sheer willpower.

He knew he was willing to dispatch her. He knew that as he stared at the maddened squire; he knew that she wasn't his anymore.

"You swore to protect your King, and I've sworn to protect _MINE_!" Higgs yelled as she leaned back suddenly in a fall, to get the lance out of herself. In doing so, she leaped fully backwards, pulling the lance out of his grasp as she did, and rolled backwards as soon as she hit the floor with her back. Injuries she'd gotten ever since the battle had started were starting to pain her dreadfully now, but she bit back against the agony. Finally righting herself upon exiting the roll, she entered a new stance with the captured lance, before she rushed at her former master, who pulled out a war knife to in an effort to defend himself. Shock ran through the man like a wash of cold water, knowing well and truly that he was about to be killed, yet stood tall, never flinching.

"I will not bow to evil!"

"Raaaaggghhh!" Fuelled by the dregs of her adrenaline and a yell of almighty effort, she stabbed the man with his own lance right through his gut in an echo of irony, withdrawing it as quickly as it had punctured him as if the lance was nothing but a cue stick. Using it like a bat, she then gripped the lance by the handle and swung it at the man's legs, sweeping it from below him. Hardly had he hit the floor on his back did his eyes widen at the stance of Higgs holding the lance high above her head.

"No!"

With a grunt of effort, she thrust the lance through the man's chest, staking him to the wooden floor of the podium. She quickly looked away before she saw his face; one of her habits of not wishing to see the light of people disappear from their eyes. In a sudden onset, a sheer tiredness overcame her, and her injuries finally let her know that she'd bled far too much.

"Oh… " She was in the midst of limping away, but fell to her knees. "Adrenaline, huh? I know how to release it whenever I want it… but I'm not invincible when I use it…" Higgs, tremulously, touched at her belly and felt the warm and slightly-sticky blood there, and knew that there was more of the same bleeding from her shoulder… and her leg… and her…

Sienna didn't want to think about her wounds. Instead, she thought of how she'd gotten many chances to escape using the dimensional scissors, but chose not to. The thought had nagged her too many times, but she never doubted her own place. She'd stayed there, fighting by his side.

"Marco…" She said weakly as she sagged, trying to right herself, but her weakened arms failed to support her. In weakness, she collapsed to the floor in a growing puddle of red, wondering if the boy she loved was any better off than her. "Was I a good knight?"

Then her eyes closed.

 **Well, shit… But nothing's concrete until EVERYTHING is said and done. I'm still working on Toffee's and Marco's side of the conflict.**

 **Anyway, how was it?**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	17. Gibelike: Bishop

**Vestiges**

 **It continues.**

 **17.**

 **\Bishop/**

Toffee kicked a knight away as soon as he got too close for comfort, the heel of his shoe audibly breaking the bones of his sternum to pieces. Without even missing a beat, he grabbed at the axe he'd implanted into the first knight he'd killed and yanked it out quickly so as to not struggle with it. For a moment, he tested its weight with a bit of hesitation, but he soon swung it away in a throw, the axe-head knocking into an armored knight with concussive force.

"Hmm… no." He picked up a claymore soon after, tested its reach and weight as well with a little sword-play experiment but he shook his head. With it, he had to defend himself from the King who wielded a large broadsword with a blade so wide it was nearly comical, just like Kelly's own. He stopped the King's sword with a clash that had sparks, but only frowned as he did so. "No… this claymore sword is also substandard."

"What are you going on about?!"

Toffee didn't answer; instead, he merely ducked beneath one of Rhombulus's crystallizing beams while sticking the blade of the sword into it purposefully. It occurred in such a way that the sword resembled a Neanderthal-like stone hammer, with a blocky crystal for the hammerhead. Without any ado, he brought it crashing down onto the King's head, braining him severely for only for a few moments before he recovered enough to jump away, but blood began to flow freely from his head injury.

"Unbelievable. You've got such a hard head that you actually survived getting beaten in the head with a diamond-hard crystal."

"Thanks," the king grunted.

"That wasn't a compliment. I literally just said that you're hardheaded." Pontification aside, Toffee took a step backwards just as the transformed queen let loose an explosive blast at would've pummeled him. " _This_ is the strongest that Mewni has to offer? An old queen and a pot-bellied king?"

"OLD?!"

"POT-BELLIED?!"

"He didn't even mention me!" Rhombulus complained, although he was ignored.

Toffee allowed himself a smirk at their reactions, despite the time and place. "From where I am, I can see the crow's feet on Moon's face. And truth be told, River isn't fighting like the barbarian he used to be." As he spoke, another few knights surrounded him, but the Bishop was far too agile for them to engage. Swinging his tail, he swept one off of his feet, captured a halberd from another with his right hand and throwing a haymaker punch with his left, sending the third one flying into the wall, leaving it with spider-web cracks before the knight sagged off unconscious. With the long halberd in his hands, he chopped down the knight he had captured the weapon from, before stabbing the spear tip through the knight on the ground who was scrambling to get away. Most of those winced at the sound, the noise of the weapon through the man's flesh sounding like soggy wood being run through, and the hatred for the Septarian grew even more.

"You fiend!"

"Fiend?" Toffee mumbled as he started to take the time to roll up his sleeves before handling the halberd again. It was as if he was disinterested with the entire affair, as if he did not even care for their accusations, or even for the fact that he was embroiled in a conflict with them. "War is what it is, Moon." He started walking forward now with the halberd in hand, and it was with amusement that he noticed that the entire crowd of knights, including the King, the Queen (in her butterfly state) and Rhombulus went backwards a step. He stepped forward once more, and the entire throng repeated their earlier action.

Obviously, they were still afraid of him.

"Excuse me… this halberd is of hardly any use…" he gestured to his weapon with little interest. "Do you still have the pole-axe version? The sturdier one that your army used to use two decades ago?" His eyes scanned the crowd to try and find a knight who wielded the weapon he favored. He soon spied one, though not in the possession of a knight, but in a pair of two that was presented in a display case on the far wall to his right. Quickly approaching it, he smashed the glass case with the butt-end of the halberd and dropped it to the floor, before picking up the much heftier pole-axe instead. Still not entirely satisfied, he picked up the second pole-axe as well, before knocking them both together to test the metal used to make them. It was as he wished; they were quite a bit shorter than the pole of the halberd, but the entire weapon was made out of metal, giving it a nearly unnecessary amount of weight. However, the blades of the axe-region were broader than the halberds, and the opposite side sported the typical blockhead of an axe. What's more, the metal tip at the top wasn't as thin and long as the halberds, but shorter and thicker. In simple terms, what he had was a completely large metallic axe with a spear end, rather than having a spear with a smallish axe-head.

Yes, now he was satisfied. They felt right at home in his hands, never mind the weight. Despite his lean appearance, he was stronger than even the average muscled monster that was twice his size. With his physique, these were the type of weapons that he used to use, back when he relied more on his brawns than his brains. He still had the might, and he was going to put it to use.

"For all of your green knights who're still wet behind the ears, _this_ is a weapon," Toffee lectured. "These were the types of weapons that the _real_ knights used in the past when they relied more on their strength, rather than their reach as if they were _afraid_ of their enemies. But Moon, I suppose that's what you get for trying to make knights in ceremonies, instead of when they are warriors meant to be born and christened on the battlefield like Mina Loveberry. These knights look more fit to be squires, and that's a stretch for a few of those that I can see at present. They're shaking at the knees."

"Don't you _dare_ lecture me about my subjects! Knights!" she ordered, "ATTACK!"

Some charged willingly, some hesitantly. But the older version of Toffee, the one on the inside, grinned maniacally at the prospect of engaging in conflict although he was still stoic on the outside. "Moon, you just sentenced a lot of your soldiers to die." True to his word, as the knights rushed him, they could not hope to even injure the skilled Septarian much less kill him, especially given the fact that he was capable of extreme regeneration to the point of being immortal. Even though the knights tried to surround him, he was still an unstoppable force, hacking his way through vitals with the axe-blades or smashing at armored places with axe-blockheads. They were still yet others who were getting run through with the spikes, and Moon was horrified to see her knights defeated-… no, being _killed_ so quickly and easily. Toffee wasn't even the worse for wear; there still wasn't even a _wrinkle_ in his outfit, except for those he made by rolling up his sleeves to free his elbows.

"Rhombulus, don't just stand there, crystallize him!" Queen demanded.

"But what if I accidentally crystallize any of the knights? They're getting in the way!"

"You can DE-CRYSTALLIZE them when it's over! It's better than to watch them die! When you crystallize him, or even immobilize him partially, I'll find some way to carry him out of here where we can go all out without having to worry about the others fighting."

"About that, Moon-pie…" River said solemnly, "Marco and that girl, I cannot say that they're any less of a threat than Toffee…" Turning to look back at the pair of insurgents, the woman's heart fell when she realized that her husband was right; the girl who gave off the threatening vibe was mercilessly killing her knights, as stupefying as it seemed. Marco was more of the same, and for the first time, Moon felt some measure of regret as to where the boy was concerned. Had Mewni's mistreatment of him really led to him being one of their worst enemies?

"I…" Moon thought long and hard. "Star has the wand. But the fact that Toffee's back shows that he's capable of returning even from the dead!"

"Did he die at all last time?" River asked.

"I'm sure he did. After all, it's the reason why Eclipsa got freed from the crystal. She wouldn't have been freed, were it not for Toffee's death. The best we can _possibly_ do is to rely on Rhombulus to completely crystallize him."

"Then what about Marco and the girl?"

"I told you he was evil." Rhombulus quipped. Seeing the royal couple glare at him, he cringed. "Sorry. Bad time for an 'I told you so'. But if we're the ones fighting Toffee, then that just leaves Star to handle Marco, right? I think we can trust her to take him down, both him and the squire girl. Besides, she's got the wand and her strong boyfriend. They should be fine."

"Fine?" Moon was worried. She most certainly didn't want to leave her daughter in the hall that was already starting to look like a bloodbath, but she had no choice. "Be careful, Star," she said quietly before she slowly turned her attention to Toffee. "Everyone, step back!"

That was all the warning she gave before she cast one of her strongest spells that blew that entire section of the ceremonial hall to oblivion. In the wake of it, Toffee was nowhere to be seen, and Moon knew that that the blast force was sufficient enough to knock Toffee through the now-nonexistent walls to the outside of the castle. "Everyone, Toffee's outside! Advance on him, before he recovers!"

With a yell of boosting morale and vigor, all of the remaining knights who were engaging Toffee charged through the gaping hole in the side of the castle after the Septarian. They were still on the ground floor of the castle, so it was safe for them to exist in this fashion. Safety as a theme ended soon after when they found Toffee a moment later. He wasn't partial to his suit in the slightest, as he still had plenty more of them; the damage done to it was superfluous. The fact that the attack had caught him off guard was what upset him, and he was now feeling angry enough to teach Mewni why they shouldn't irritate Septarians.

Pole-axes in hand, he dashed at them with the intent of taking no prisoners. Soon he was in their midst, hacking at vulnerable areas, pummeling armored places with the hammer-sided end of his axes and stabbing with the spike-bits. Even more unfortunate, in following Queen Moon's orders, Rhombulus encased quite a few more hapless knights who were fighting Toffee in an attempt to capture him as well, but to no avail. Soon, all the knights were all either dead or incapacitated; Toffee looked on at the royal couple and their bodyguard.

"I'm not nearly done as yet, Moon. Have any more tricks? Humor me."

"I have plenty, you relic of a lost age!" Forming magical bolts, she let loose a salvo from all six of her arms, blasting them at Toffee. The Bishop ran in a strafe, easily avoiding them; as it were her intentions, he was driven towards Rhombulus, who had his hands encased in crystals to augment his hands into diamond-hard bits. In a flurry of punches, Rhombulus broke through Toffee's guard to puncture his upper torso full of holes. However, Toffee's body, expectedly, soon healed. However, it was noticed that there was some sort of purple substance bled from him, and wherever his blood dripped, it sizzled on the ground, even on the diamond-hard crystals that Rhombulus had encased his snake-hands with. He tried to crystallize Toffee being that he was at such close range, but Toffee merely avoided each blast; it was relatively easy to the Septarian. He only had to be in the direction wherever the M.H.C. Security aficionado wasn't looking in. The beam was always shot from the center of his eye straight forward-… that much was plain.

"If you repeat the same action, you get the same reaction," Toffee monotone as he dodged the beam again and again. "What did you hope to gain?"

"A long enough distraction…" Rhombulus said rather cheekily. Before the Bishop could properly react, River came rushing forward with his sword swinging. Toffee was barely able to lean forward enough to keep his head from being beheaded, but in his moment of being caught off guard, Moon came flying in, and grabbed him by the leg and flew high with him.

"You're a tenacious enemy, Toffee, I grant you that…" Veering around in a sharp circle, she then spun with acquiring momentum before throwing him down as hard as he could. Coupled with gravity and mass and velocity, Toffee was hurled to the earth with such force that the ground shook a bit with the impact, and kicked up loose dust. The queen was looking forward to seeing a broken Septarian, but he emerged out of the dust haze as if there was nothing wrong.

"That… was an exercise in futility."

He paused after this, trying to consider his next move. Despite being virtually immortal, he was at a disadvantage. It wasn't because he was fighting three people… no, it was because he was presently a close-range fighter and was going up against two people with projectile attacks, one of whom could fly. A fight like this wasn't impossible, mind you, but simply undoable.

King…

So the King was Marco, hmm? He had seemed to have been an unlikely candidate, but there must have been some ulterior reason as to why it was the way it is... a reason why the boy would have dominion over them. Wasn't he the one that was Star's best friend? Wasn't he the very one whom he had affronted while in his sideline objectives to get to the Wellspring?

An unlikely person. But the fact still remained that he was his King. So be it.

They'd all been chosen by a calling higher than theirs… destiny, perhaps? Toffee had never considered himself a believer in fate, but everything that had happened had been done so in accordance with the maxim of removing magic from the multiverse.

But for now... what was he ordered to do?

" _My Knight's feeling a bit overwhelmed… Could you do something about that?"_

"Hmm… A bit vague," Toffee thought out loud. "He probably meant for me to thin the numbers. I've already done so. After all, the knights are all neutralized. If I'm to take on the Queen and Rhombulus, I'd need at least a Rook to support me, or the King himself. The King?" At the word, Toffee began to laugh; it started small, but it soon grew, unsettling his opponents. "Imagine! The King! Hmm… How ironic… the King is almost as weak as an ordinary pawn, but they're the ones who are granted the might to make all others kneel before them!"

"What?" Moon asked in a bewildered tone. "King?"

"Does he mean me, Moon-Pie?" River asked.

"I don't think so…" Rhombulus said. "And didn't he call Marco 'King'? I knew Marco was evil, I knew it, I knew it!"

"No… not just that…" Moon thought back a bit, recalling that Marco had called him 'Bishop'. "Toffee, what's the relationship between the both you and Marco?"

"I have no obligation to tell you." Readjusting his pole-axes in his hands, he prepared to go on the offensive. "But it is time I removed you from play…" Musing on his strategy for a while, he realized that Rhombulus could only crystallize objects he could see with his sole eye. ('Typical Rook, hindered by his vision!') Furthermore, the queen would be the one to come rushing in if her precious pieces were caught in check.

And so, his plan came together.

In a dead-on run, he charged forward to where they were. Naturally, they all separated apart to counterattack from a presumed safe range from him, but it was just as well. He threw one of his pole-axes after the King to drive him further away and as he did, Toffee swiftly turned away to head straight towards Rhombulus who had mistakenly believed that Bishop was after the weakest of their group.

"Time to go!" Rhombulus muttered excitedly at the prospect of finally encasing Toffee. Trying once more to crystallize him, he fired his beam but missed. Anxious now, he flung off the encasings he had over his snake-hands and started to fire crystal shards from the mouths of his snakes. Toffee dodged what he could and deflected others with his weapons. Realizing his folly, Rhombulus backpedaled to increase his distance again, but it failed as Toffee had been approaching him at full speed. As a last-ditch effort, he tried to crystallize him again, but Toffee was far too quick and dodged it easily.

With a grunt of effort, he swung his axe and chopped off one of Rhombulus' hands, the snake itself shrieking as it went flying off. Golden blood squirted from the wound and in pain, Rhombulus yelled his hurt, bringing both the King and Queen to try to save their comrade. However, they'd put too much distance between themselves and Toffee, and it took them too long in getting there.

"Now for your other arm!" Toffee announced.

"Hell no!" To defend his last arm, Rhombulus immediately formed a covering of diamond all over it. Unfortunately, he had fallen for Toffee's bluff, and the Septarian grinned.

"There goes the last defense…! You're strong, but not very clever!" Punctuating his last word, Toffee lifted his pole-axe and slammed it into the Crystal-Magic user directly in his chest. Already near death, even more of the golden blood was spilled as Rhombulus was sent sprawling and just as he'd planned, the Queen came rushing in at full speed. She was armed with a zigzagged sword made from pure magical energy, and but it mattered little to him.

Everything came riding down on the second.

"Damn you, Toffee!" she screamed as she prepared to liberate his head from his body. With an undertone growl in his throat, he sidestepped her sword slash in her attempts to behead him with a diagonal strike. She had only managed to take off his left arm, and her excessive force had only allowed her sword to follow through with her action. She couldn't defend herself with the sword now, and Toffee knew it all too well. Still in his other hand and rapidly swinging at her at incredible speeds was his pole-axe, fully intent on bisecting her in two.

"Moon!" River yelled, still too distant to intervene. "MOON!"

In shock, the Queen almost _waited_ for the finishing blow, but it never came. In fact, Toffee was unarmed, and the Septarian found himself getting blown back with explosive force against the walls of the Ceremonial Hall, creating spider-web cracks as he impacted against it. Dark malignant blood outflowed from the stump that was his left arm before it regenerated, but the Bishop was far more focused on the fact that the massive form of Omnitraxus. The demigod was now emerging from a large fiery portal of (likely) Hekapoo's making, and his visage was positively frightening as he looked on at the area littered with dead knights and bloodstains. There was also the fact that his brother was severely injured, if not dead-… golden blood still streamed from him, and if looks could kill, then the Bishop would've died then and there, regenerative powers or not.

"Your weapons are now several dimensions away! You, however, will know only the far reaches of oblivion!"

Toffee clicked his tongue in disappointment as he got back on his feet, staring intently at the gigantic leviathan. "Well, well. This was an expected complication, but not one I'm prepared to deal with…"

" **Die** , **Septarian**!"

 **Reinforcements are here. That's the end of Bishop's chapter.**

 **Well, for some who caught the update on early Saturday and soon after, you may have noticed my comment that I was hoping to update again in a half-day. Well, it didn't happen. Sorry. But look, here it is! Smallish chapter? I know it is. In fact, this was originally meant to be a fic with 2.5k-4k chapters.**

 **What? You want more useless facts about the chapters? Well, for starters, this story was projected to last for** _ **52**_ **chapters. That's not gonna happen anymore and it's now projected to go into the thirties bracket.**

 **Another useless fact is that every chapter, though named after a theme in the chapter, the theme is a word** _ **beginning**_ **with a particular letter of the alphabet, in reverse-double order. To simplify it, (if you haven't already noticed it or didn't care to):**

 **First A, then Z, then B, then Y, then C, then X…**

 **You get the idea. However, double chapters for each letter was halted after the set-up for the story had been completed. Hmm… Apparently, the title of the last chapter will begin with the letter 'N'. I wonder which epic word that'll be?**

 **Irrelevant.**

 **I'll be making the next update on Saturday, if not earlier on Friday night. But for now, good night.**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	18. Title: King

**Vestiges**

 **Here's the other 'half' of the chapter that should have been posted alongside 'Bishop'-… it's Marco's side of the conflict.**

 **18.**

 **\King** **/**

He wasn't like his Knight, who relied on hormone control and incredible reflexes. He wasn't like his Bishop who had decades of fighting experience and regenerative powers. What the King had was martial arts. What he had was a gift, that being a hunting sword. What he had was _no_ limits, courtesy of his inner entity.

Strength, physical and mental agility and dexterity, he had all of these and no mercy. It was only more of the same as time passed, as the more he experienced, the more improved he became. Combined with the fact that he had no inclinations of quitting before he got to his objective, had firm convictions enough to burn his bridges, Appendaxuz was sure that the King was a force that no one could reckon with.

The augmentations weren't done with magic. It was all done with the vestiges of Appendaxuz's former self. Marco was able to make full use of who Appendaxuz was before he fell from grace. His rational powers with constant physical gain was what Appendaxuz used to be, and the entity nearly marveled when he saw how the boy took to his abilities like a fish to water.

 ** _Like I was before, he has no limits because I've unlocked his potential. Alpha-…for his strength. Beta-… for his mind. Theta-… for his senses. Delta-…for protection. Gamma-… his convictions._**

Couple that with his increasing, nearly irrational rage…

" _ **Oh, Mewni, you threw away a lump of coal, but I have unlocked his potential to excel like a diamond. Go, Marco! Punish them for their insolence!"**_

Marco roared in effort as he streaked in a blur of red and and black, blood following wherever he went. His former friends could hardly even fathom how the boy became this powerful, and even as to how he had stooped so low as to _kill_ people, those he seemingly had no reason to even fight with. It was with shock that most of them could only stare in horror and shock, despite Tom's attempts to stir them into action. "Damn it, can't you all see that he's evil?! He's LOST IT! He's killing people! Janna, Pony Head, Kelly! Star! We've got to stop him!"

"But he's-"

"Would you quit it with that dumb argument? He's _evil_." The Lucitor spawned a large ball of fire and threw it at the Diaz, but he failed to even leave a scorch mark on his target as Marco was long gone from the location before the fire even made contact. As if he wasn't even aware that Tom had just tried to burn him to ashes, he continued his relentless assault on the knights around him, bloodletting rapidly becoming the nightmarish theme.

"I remember you!" Marco growled as he recognized a hapless knight. The knight, seeing that he was about to be targeted, tried to muster a fight but ultimately failed. There was only the shortest of sword fights before Marco's sword spun the knight's own from his grip leaving him defenseless, before the Diaz caught it in his left hand. "Yeah, I recognize that ugly mug of yours. When I wanted to borrow a sword to defend myself on Stump day, you told me that I should go get my own sword! You can keep it!" With a swift jab, Marco stabbed the knight's sword through his chest, allowing the man to collapse on his side to bleed out. Another knight who saw the demise of his fellow knight tried to avenge him, but failed as Marco was too quick for him; the teen's sword stabbed through his eye, killing him instantly. In disgust, Marco yanked his sword out of the man's eye socket, letting the knight crumple lifelessly to the floor and 'flashed' the sword to shake off the excess of the dead men's eye-fluid and blood. Before he could sprint away, Kelly tackled Marco face-down to the ground, arresting his arms behind him and pinning them to his upper back.

"That's enough, Marco! You've gone too far! TOO FAR!"

Marco didn't reply. Before she could even think of tying his arms together, he threw her off with insane strength onto her back. He grabbed his sword that had spilled from his grasp and approached her, intent on finishing her off. "You know, I always liked you Kelly. But you just had to fall for Star's lies like everyone else!"

"Look, I'm sorry about that but you can't-"

"Don't care." Marco growled as he raised his sword. Never minding the look of unbelieving fear in her eyes, he was about to plunge his sword into her but courtesy of Tom, a massive fireball exploded at Marco's feet with enough impact force to knock him away from Kelly before he could harm her. Unexpectedly, a burly knight intercepted the still-flying Marco in the face with a powerful clothesline move, sending him to the floor. "Agh! Damn, who's the-…" Looking up, the teen frowned deeply. "Oh. It's you."

Above him stood Lady Whosits, armed with nothing but her fists. Even more noticeable than her apparent lack of a weapon were the tears streaming down her face as she glared at Marco. "Diaz! You murderer!"

"Murderer?" Marco pondered a bit, trying to make sense of the woman's accusation as he got back to his feet, returning a glare of his own. "About this? Are you talkin' about your squire? Baby Man?"

"I'm talking about my SON!"

"He's your son?" Marco asked, confused. As if to answer him, Lady Whosits brought up her right fist in a curl, and decked Marco in the jaw and sent him flying through the arranged benches and smashing more than just a few of them to pieces and splinters. As the momentum finally brought him to a stop, he silently thanked his fortune of being far more resistant to damage, but cursed that he'd been unable to defend himself properly against the Knight. If he could get pummeled by a Knight, then what chance did he stand against the members of the M.H.C.?

"Get up Diaz, you dog!" Lady Whosits yelled as she watched him try to stand up, "I won't stop until you're dead in an unmarked grave!"

"And I won't stop until Mewni BURNS!" His sword was still in hand, and he dashed at the irate woman, intent on finishing this farce of a fight quickly. Swinging his sword wildly, he moved in to hack the woman by the neck, but he missed and his sword deflected off of her armor-… from the force, the intense vibrations were incredibly intense enough for him to accidentally drop his sword from shock. Capitalizing on his mistake, she nailed him with another punch, breaking through his attempts to block her fist and sent him flying away. It came to her notice that he didn't quite go quite as far as the first time and like a rampaging bull, he came running back. "Damn you!"

If he was eager to be pummeled into oblivion, she was more than happy to oblige him. It was what she wanted… She wanted him to _die_! "I'll put you down, you sick animal!" Rearing back her fist, she made sure it would be her strongest. He noticed this as well, and at the last moment in his rush, was forced to come to a halt to intercept her fist. He actually caught her strongest effort in one hand, but before he could counterattack, she grabbed him by the neck and started to choke him, so strong that his air was instantly cut off and his neck about to snap in on itself.

"It's over!"

"Bitch!" Marco mouthed angrily before grabbing at her fingers and in a show of how strong he was, actually slowly broke her fingers while pulling her hands from off of his neck. "Get your hands off of me!" As soon as he finished prying off of her grip, he grabbed her wrist and with a one-arm judo throw, pulled her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. In spite of the sound of her armor hitting the tiled floor, the sound of her arm breaking was clearly audible-…such was the strength he had. "You want revenge for your son? He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" He picked up his fallen sword and was about to move off, but she grabbed his leg before he could.

"Don't you walk away from me!" She pulled him off balance onto his belly, long enough for another knight close by to finally get his chance to finish the Diaz before he killed anyone else. He lunged forward with the spear, but before he could stake the boy with it, Marco managed to half-roll out of the way, his only way to avoid it since his leg was still in the woman's grip. "Kill him!" Lady Whosits shouted.

"Ain't happening!" Marco retorted. Before the knight could re-attempt to spear him, Marco grabbed the weapon at the last second and crushed the handle in his grasp, leaving the knight armed with only a common stick. With the spear head in his hand now, he threw it at the knight like a throwing knife, but failed miserably when it bounced off the knight's chainmail armor.

" _ **For even a single second, I don't know why you thought that would work."**_

Marco yelled unintelligibly at Appendaxuz in his mind, and in the same moment, lashed out at Lady Whosits with his free leg to get her to let him go, the toe of his shoe walloped her in the temple. Getting up now, he surveyed the fact that that he was surrounded by a dozen knights, his former friends… and Star.

"Give it up, Marco!" Tom yelled. "You're surrounded!" But to his and everyone surprise, Marco started to laugh, albeit grimly.

"I'm surrounded? Well… that ought to even the odds…" His dark green eyes glared coldly at each of them in turn, and rested finally on Star, who slightly trembled under his gaze. It was easily noticeable that she still hadn't even fully recovered from when he had blatantly insulted her while she was trying to apologize, and she was trying to get over the fact that he'd moved on past her where their friendship was concerned. "Now… who's the first to go?"

From behind Marco and still with her vengeance unfinished, Lady Whosits tried to get back onto her feet. Blood ran down the side of her face; she had severe head trauma, her arm was broken and her earlier tossing to the floor had left her feeling like her insides were reduced to mush. This was no ordinary boy before her; she was the strongest person she knew, but the boy had manhandled her as if she was nothing at all. She'd vowed to avenge the death of her son, and had fallen short. She cringed in her grief as she recalled seeing him the day before, lifeless in his arms. Today, he would have been honored like the others in his generation but the Diaz had ruined that too!

In anger, she rushed forward, and captured the Diaz in a bear hug of sorts, strong despite the fact that one of her arms were broken. He struggled to get free, but had to strain. "Kill Diaz now!" Whosits bellowed, grimacing as the pain of her broken arm threatened to make her falter, but fought against it. "Kill him, even if it means killing me too!"

"To hell with that!" Marco yelled before they could react and make good on the opportunity she was giving them. She was still armored, and the only place he could attack to get her to release him were her arms, but his own upper limbs were pinned at his sides. In a moment of quick thinking, he tilted his head forwards before slamming it hard backwards into her face, breaking her nose in a bloody mess and making her squeal in pain. It wasn't enough to make her let him go, but it was enough to loosen her grip enough for him to muscle his way free. Hardly was he back on the ground on his feet did he dart around the big woman; now behind her, he kicked the back of her leg to make her fall to one knee before he clambered up on her back and pressed his sword to her neck.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Janna yelled. "Marco, don't kill her!"

"…" Marco cocked up an eyebrow, hesitating for a moment. But this was a costly mistake, as a fireball exploded in his back. "Gah… DAMN IT!" In a split-second, he had caught on fire and he had to leap off of the woman's back to throw off his ignited black robes before all of him started to burn. It was too late to stop himself from sustaining a couple of burns, the agony of which infuriated him. His eyes searched around him for the instigator, and his fury only spiked when he saw the Lucitor who was still in the pose of having thrown an object, that being a fireball. "I've had enough of you, Tom!"

"Bring it on, MARCO!" Glancing at everyone who was more or less dormant, he tried to spur them into action. "C'mon people! Are we just gonna let him walk all over us?!" Flaring himself on fire as he began to use his arcane powers, Tom started to chant in his demonic tongue. Unexpectedly, the ground opened up beneath Marco's feet suddenly and he fell into the scorching fissure. Without even wasting a second, he closed up the crevice again, sealing Marco inside. "Instant burial, Marco!"

There was no more sound, no screams, nothing. Everything was silent for a moment before one could hear what sounded like muffled curses as the ground began to shake a bit as if there was squirming within. In shock, everyone gaped as the very same faultline that Tom had created was re-opened, forced open by Marco who was exercising what appeared to be pure brute strength. It would've looked more comical to see the Diaz spread-eagled as he pushed the faultline apart with both his arms and legs, but that was spoilt by the time they saw his face. He was gripping the bloodstained blade by his teeth alone, and nothing but hatred and wrath in his eyes. In a flex while dipping his body downwards, he threw himself up with core-strength alone and as soon as he did, the fissure clapped itself shut allowing for him to fall harmlessly to the ground above where it had been.

"You _think_ you can get rid of me so easily?" Marco asked rhetorically as he got up, and spat out the lingering taste of blood in his mouth before taking his sword back in hand. "Did you _hope_ that I'll be taken care of just like that? Just like when you all thought I was full of shit and had to be thrown out of Mewni?"

"I was hoping to shut your mouth! Take a good look around you and see how many people you've killed… throwing you out was the best thing we probably ever did!" Tom roared. First to act, he started throwing a volley of fireballs, forcing Marco to evade if he wanted to avoid getting injured. Tom wasn't going all out; it was mostly a skirmish tactic to keep Marco from counterattacking, and it was working well. Still surrounded by the knights, it was that much easier for them as they all pressed on the offensive. More than once, their weapons carved away at his flesh in his failed attempts to avoid all of their killing attacks. Despite the wounds not being as bad as it could be due to his body's heightened resistance to damage, Tom could see that their foe was weakening-... Marco was close to losing, but they needed to push harder a little more.

He could tell what was wrong… some of them still weren't committed to taking him down. Janna was expected, as she didn't really have any fighting experience. Kelly was unarmed and still somewhat unwilling to fight their former friend. Pony Head wasn't all that committed, but she was still firing her horn laser, and her conviction continued to rise with each blast she fired. That was the most that could be said from their group.

Star, as it so happened, was locked in her own head and hearing the voices of mixed arguments she'd been in.

"… _But at the very least, I know it's still him. I couldn't reach out to him, and while he was forcing us to leave, the same aura that I was sensing from him changed a little. I know that I felt sorrow and regret in it…_ _He's capable of doing bad things, but 'Marco' is NOT doing these things…"_

 _"… Fine. But I should have you know that Marco isn't your only friend? What were you to do if he should commit harm to the others?"_

She still didn't know what to do. How could she bring herself to harm her closest friend, even if he was bringing destruction and death to Mewni and those around her? She needed to act!

They had him on the defensive. He was about to lose. They were attacking to kill him. She most certainly did not want him to die, but she didn't want to see him kill anyone else, either! There were already so many casualties just from his own hands, not even counting what his friend Higgs had done, not to mention Toffee…

'He's evil, Star!' she yelled in her mind. 'He's evil! Do you need any more proof than this? If you don't stop him, then he's going to kill-… No… He's the one about to die. The knights are gonna kill him! And Tom and Pony Head are helping them! But if I stop them from killing him, then he'll kill _us_!'

It was the last. Marco had incurred too many injuries. Weakened by blood loss, dazed from a war-hammer blow to his head and numerous low-key stab wounds from spears, pikes and swords, he stood shakily as if the floor beneath him was moving. His red sweater had been reduced to tatters, showing his wounds for all to see. Crimson dripped to the floor, the only sound that seemed to permeate the scene. However, it could be said that the only thing that remained strong was the anger in the King, and his grip on his sword. On every breath he exhaled, he muttered curses. On every breath he inhaled, the fires of his wrath grew. Yet, Star looked at him with a measure of pity.

 _I don't want him to die… I don't want any of my friends to die._

Finally, Star made up her mind.

"Everyone, capture Marco Diaz!"

No one moved. In her own downtime of trying to pull herself together, Lady Whosits had figured out why she'd been superior to Marco for only the shortest while before his strength quickly surpassed hers. In her mind, it was for the very reason why it seemed that he was incurring less and less wounds, getting less and less injuries that weren't as deep as they since the start of the battle. "NO!" the woman yelled as she tried to get up. "You need to kill Diaz! This is no time to be trying to capture him!"

"Everyone!" Star repeated her earlier shout, "capture Marco Diaz!" Everyone was mostly conflicted between whose orders to follow; the tactics that were originally being carried out and being authorized by an elite knight, or the orders from the princess, who likely knew nothing of fighting strategy and was having her judgment clouded by her emotions.

"Don't! We need to kill Diaz now!" Whosits yelled. "As much as I can admit that I want to see him dead because of my son, Diaz has to die now, or we'll never be able to stop him! He's growing stronger with each conflict, with each effort he puts out, with each fight! At first my strength was greater than his, and now it's as if I'm a lamb to him! And look! The wounds he got at first… the very same wounds that he's still getting aren't doing as much damage! Yet still against his bare flesh, swords don't even cut him as deeply!"

It was true. All eyes were focused on him now, and they observed him more closely. Even Tom noticed that the fireballs that he threw at Marco was hardly even leaving scorch marks at this point. Everyone gawked as they realized that he was becoming steadily more tolerant of damage and stronger with each encounter, though at the moment, he was still fairly weakened from his wounds and blood loss-…only his earlier wounds from their killing circle were still keeping him somewhat on their level. Star herself was bewildered about this new critical information, and becoming unsure now if her decision to keep Marco from being killed was still the best one. "Mom ordered for him to be detained! That's what we're doing!"

"Knights! I'll take responsibility for all that happens henceforth!" The elite knight bellowed. "Your orders are to KILL DIAZ!"

"Capture Marco!" Star screamed, trying to the knights to follow her.

"He's too great a threat to live, and if he doesn't die now, he could be impossible to deal with later!"

Star had reached her limit. "If you guys won't capture him… then _I will_!" Raising up her wand, she aimed it at Marco, who glared back at her with a downright spiteful look. " _Raspberry Ribbon Lasso!_ "

Nothing happened.

"…Hmm?" With a look of confusion on her face, Star repeated the same spell but once again got the same result. Marco lumbered forward a moment towards Star, then another step. On his third pace, his stride became straight and steady. He no longer had the wavering look to him, but what unsettled everyone including the princess was the fact that she seemed to be his sole target now. She didn't quite know why, but after what he said next, she knew.

"You wouldn't happen to be trying to use magic… would you Star?" Marco growled. If he wasn't angry before, he was now.

"Stay back Marco!" Trying to ignore the fact that one of her spells weren't working, she tried another. " _Ritzy Rainbow Rope!"_

Still nothing. Marco continued to approach her unhindered.

"Um… Star?" Janna asked worriedly. "The wand isn't working. Maybe we should try something else-"

"Kill Marco!" Lady Whosits yelled, trying to rouse her knights into action. "He's an enemy to all, and friend to none! Put him down before he kills the princess!"

"He's MY BEST FRIEND!" Star yelled, trying to keep them from attacking Marco so she could try again. " _Embracing Bestie Binds!"_

"I'm not your damn bestie!" Marco yelled. He'd gotten fed up of the situation, and charged at the princess. Finally, in a bid to do what Star had ordered, the knights dropped their weapons and threw themselves at Marco. A few holding each of his arms, and a few holding each of his legs. They'd slowed him down to a crawl, and additionally, Kelly and Janna had to help holding back the King from getting to Star. Even Pony Head helped to intervene; she grabbed on to the back of Marco's collar with her teeth and strained to pull him back. With every fibre of Tom's being, he wanted to finish off the Diaz while he was still restrained but in a split-second decision, placed himself before Star and Marco, and pushed back on Marco's shoulders to keep him from getting any closer to his girlfriend.

"Stay away from Star, Marco!"

Marco paid him no mind. He only continued to give Star a glare that was nearly enough to kill a lesser person. In this moment, Star recalled all of her happier moments since meeting the Diaz, all of her regrets, the pain…

For all the magic in the world, she was willing to trade it all for it to go back to the way it was.

Trying to find the hope now, she tried to fan the flame of it, and pointed the wand at the only part of Marco that was still visible from the crowd of people holding him back, that being his face. "Marco… I… I miss the old days…" Star whispered, as if her heart was about to break, "when we could go on adventures… beat up monsters who wanted to steal the wand… have friendship Thursdays…" A tear dripped from her eye as she thought of all she'd been through, all they'd suffered, all that they'd carried on past. "Can't we have those anymore?"

Marco said nothing. In his rage and his limits still being constantly surpassed, he started to squirm against those who held him. He dropped his sword to the ground to pry and heave them from off of his arms, and kicking off those who had grasped his feet. There was only Tom, and only the Lucitor stood between the King and the object of his wrath. "Let go of me, devil!" Grabbing one of the Lucitor's arms, Marco then smashed his fist into the boy's elbow; with a cruel snap-and-break, he broke the Lucitor's arm at the elbow before kicking him down as if he were nothing but garbage, the devil howling in pain as he went. Down but not out, however, Tom tried to get back onto his feet to defend Star, flaring himself on fire to augment his abilities. Not intimidated, Marco brought up his fists and prepared to break down the fiery devil.

"This isn't going to even be _nearly_ like the playground fight we had in my room…" Marco grunted.

"I'm not afraid of you, Marco!" Tom grunted, though his speech was unclear due to the pain he was already in.

In a roar akin to a wild animal, the King feinted a left punch to Tom's midsection and as the Lucitor tried to defend himself there with his last good arm, Marco nailed him with a jab to his unguarded neck. In severe pain and reduced to a choking mess, Tom should've backed away from Marco but didn't; it was his undoing. Marco then kicked Tom in his side, right in the liver, making him collapse face down. Not yet finished, Marco reached behind himself and tugged off the seemingly forgotten Princess Pony Head (who had been still clutching his collar) and snapped her horn off before backhanding the screaming princess away with a mean fist. With the horn in hand, he stabbed the Tom in his upper back and raked it viciously down his back to worsen his wound, never minding the Lucitor's anguished groans and cries.

"You poor little devil…" Marco whispered in a mocking tone, before he picked up his adversary bodily, and threw him as hard as he could at the knights who were struggling to get back up. With that out of the way, he was about to turn back on Star, but a right hook slammed into his jaw as he did so. It was more surprising than it was painful, and the instigator was none other than Kelly.

"Marco… you need to _stop_!" The girl cried as she tried to stop the King. " _Stop!_ " She dodged his counterattacking kick to her groin, and started wailing on him as best she could, though it had no effect. " _Stop, stop, stop_!" With each time she cried the word, the weaker her blows got as she lost the strength and willingness to fight her former friend, but her tears ran harder, burning her cheeks. He wasn't softened by this; no, he only became more frustrated.

"You're _annoying_!" Before she could 'hit' him again, with a powerful low-sweep, he kicked her legs out from under her and while she was still caught between heaven and earth, elbowed her in the chest and knocking her to the ground. Amidst the sound of cracking of ribs, the back of her head thudded against the tiled floor, brutally knocking her unconscious. Without even a second mind, he stepped over her prone body, and ran at the princess in a dead-on sprint.

Still, she couldn't find it in herself to do harm to the boy who she'd bonded with for eternity.

There was a spell she used to use. It had long gone from memory until now; it was the spell she used to de-transmutate objects that she had transformed.

That's right. She still believed that it was her fault that he had turned out like this, and with this spell, she hoped to revert him back into her best friend.

He thundered after her. She needed to remember the name of the spell! Aiming her wand again, she started to articulate what she could remember from memory, but Marco finally caught up to her, shouting his hatred of her.

Too late to even change her stance to something else to defend herself, he grabbed her shoulder before smashed the hardest haymaker fist right into her solar plexus, so hard that she coughed up droplets of blood and her blue eyes rolled up to whites. The blow would have been strong enough to send her flying backwards because of his enhanced strength, but his grip on her shoulder kept her from doing so, ensuring that she had to weather the full brunt of the attack to a standstill. Not yet finished and with his arm still on her stomach, he heaved her up over his head before throwing her down as hard as he could on the ground, back first. Never minding the fact that she'd most likely incurred an injured back, her head had also hit the concrete, her skull cracking in the impact.

She didn't move anymore.

With a grim nod, Marco stepped away from her to go pick up his sword. After stepping over the limp bodies of those he'd defeated to get to it, he knelt to pick up the hunting sword. However, as he did so, he heard movement coming from where he'd left Star, only to see the girl he'd presumably left unconscious or dead. Even more so, despite her heavy breathing and the blood that she seemed to cough up every few seconds, there was even more of the scarlet life dying her blond hair from where she'd hit her head on the ground. She seemed to wobble from leg to leg, and her eyes glazed in and out of focus. She was also suffering from an extreme concussion, and it was taking every bit of willpower for the girl to stay on her feet. In the midst of all these difficulties, the princess finally remembered the words to the spell she wanted, and struggled to raise her arms to point her wand at Marco, even as he ran back at her with his sword in hand.

For her final attempt, her hopes and dreams… she placed it all into the wand, hoping that it would not let her down, yet fearing that it would. There would be nothing more if and when it failed. Nothing. She could only hope in the last spell, hoping that Marco would revert to his old self.

For his final attempt, his hatred and his anger… he placed it all into his sword, trusting that it would not let him down, yet worrying that it would. There would be everything more if and when he succeeded. Everything. He could only trust in his final slash, trusting to cut her down before her magic affected him and the universe.

" _Mending Heart Hurricane_ _!_ "

" _You and your magic can GO TO HELL!_ "

Yet again, there was nothing. The spell did not work. It did not work. But that wasn't what flagged his perpetual anger. It was the fact that Star had tried to use magic… she had tried to use magic on HIM!

Prepared to end this farce, he lunged forward, blade first. Barely having the presence of mind to even remain standing, much less fight back, Star could only watch as she was only a few seconds away from dying. However, this was not to be, as intervention came from an unlikely source.

It was Janna who found herself in front of Star; a split-second later, instead of shedding blood, Marco's sword had sparks gash instead. It was in this moment that Janna stopped Marco from killing his best friend, and the King glared at the forgotten Ordonia. She returned the stare from over the top of the shield she'd picked up to defend Star with, and did not flinch.

" _Janna…?!_ "

"Cool it, you hothead."

"Get… out… of… my… way…" Marco said lowly, as if every word was difficult to say. When she didn't obligate his order, he started hacking away at her shield as if he'd lost his mind, punctuating each word with his sword, thought it was a fruitless action. "GET… OUT… OF… MY… WAY!"

She couldn't even waste any effort trying to talk. Most of her energy went into holding up the heavy shield and actually trying to weather Marco's attacks. However, as she looked at him over the shield, she saw what looked like he was covered in green flames like a second skin, and so did his sword, though it did not seem to burn him. Not as alarming but still surprising nonetheless, the boy spoke in a voice that commanded nothing but respect and order.

" **Quod inquit rex** ," he yelled in a strange language as he drew on his inner entity's power, " _REND_!"

In that moment, the shield that Janna had been using to defend herself and Star instantly fell apart in two when next the sword sliced at it. Not only that, but blood came after; following through, Marco had re-angled the sword and stabbed her right through the chest. It'd happened so swiftly that not even Janna had seen what had happened… until she felt the cold steel pierce her heart-… all twenty inches of brutal steel cut its vicious way through it. In shock, Janna looked down to see the sword hitched all the way to the hilt in her chest, her own lifeblood bleeding over it and onto Marco's hand. The agony following it was unbearable-… it was as if the green flame wasn't hot around the sword wasn't heat, but only an extension of the boy's aura, something she was sure hurt even _worse_. It had contaminated her body from the sword, increasing her anguish with its cruel malevolence. Despite the pain and the cold numbness that was spreading through her veins, she tried to remain strong by trying to take a deep breath, but found that it came in a hollow gasp. The exhale only made it that much worse as if her body was giving up on its last chance for life, no matter how futile it was. Her slowing heart was on its last.

Nothing helped.

"Janna?" Star said softly at the blurry image of the girl before her. She thought that she could see what looked like a bloodied blade sticking out through her back with green fire all over it, but couldn't be sure. Even as her mind tried to process this, Star toppled backwards, blacking out, her inner wounds and head injury having finally pushed the Butterfly to her cutoff point. The wand ultimately spilled from her grasp as she fell, but the sound of what had happened to the Butterfly did not grab Marco's and Janna's attention.

In her own world, trying to look away from the object that caused her pain, the Ordonia's eyes looked upwards and found Marco's own, them being mad with fury. She didn't respond in kind, nor did her eyes radiate some sort of regret for stopping him like this.

Her blood-covered hands the gentlest they've ever been, not stealing as they usually were, not grabbing or being rough, she placed them on Marco's hand on where it held the sword before she slowly pushed it back, the sword retreating out of her. The pain was unbelievable with the aura making it worse, but she didn't squirm. She kept on until she had eased all of the murderous blade from out of her chest and at the last, she finally gave up the ghost, the light leaving her eyes as quickly as she collapsed. As she died, so did the green flames around the Diaz.

Odd as it were, she fell to her knees before him with her arms encompassed around his legs, as if her last testament was to prevent Marco from getting to Star, even begging him not to. As it may be, however, he thought of that she'd only shoved her nose into matters that didn't concern her yet again, and had gotten herself killed.

"No matter how many times, you never really learnt to mind your own damn business…"

With this in mind, he pried her lifeless hands from off of himself, before irreverently writhing his legs to get her body off of him. He was about to ponder his next move but was interrupted as a fiery portal opened in the hall only ten feet behind him. Turning around to see it, Marco's heart dropped when he recognized the nature of the warp entry, knowing of whose nature was affixed to them. And true enough, there she was, stepping out of the portal gateway before closing it behind her.

Slowly, the demigoddess averted her eyes to survey the damage, the casualties and the destruction. With each new facet she saw, Marco got the innate sense that Hekapoo's own righteous fury was rising and that there would be nothing to quell it. In a tense silence that could be cut with a knife, she parted her scissors in preparation for a fight.

"And in all of this... the one who declared war on the Magic High Commission is the only person left. Soon, _he won't be_."

* * *

 **Marco's got bloodlust. He's gotten into serious trouble too. As for cliffhangers, we're three for three, people! I'm such a heartless bastard.**

 **Latin: Quod inquit rex - That saith the King.**

 **I think I've finally gotten the emotions** _ **just right**_ **with Star. Doesn't want to fight, but not completely passive, either. That's a bit useless against Marco, but don't worry, they'll have opportunities to** _ **really**_ **fight in the future. About the spell she was trying to use, it's from Season 1; it's the spell that she used to turn transmutated magical objects/animals into their original forms. Anyway, what did you think?**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	19. Hekapoo: Rook

**Vestiges**

 **Marco can't be evil without being 'EVIL', that much is true. But there needs to be emotional conflict as well as physical… you'll see what happens.**

 **19.**

 **\Rook/**

"And in all of this... the one who declared war on the Magic High Commission is the only person left. Soon, _he won't be_."

Marco's heart raced as he lifted his sword to defend himself. Already, he could feel the futility of doing so, but it wasn't in this feeling why his sword fell again. For some reason, other than his own innate feelings for the demigoddess before him, the tip of his sword lowered to point at the ground, and he was confused at this.

Wasn't he even willing to fight her? He'd even gone as far as to kill Janna, hadn't he? When the thought of her ran through his mind, it fully dawned on him that he'd _killed_ one of his former friends, and had effectively beaten the others nearly to the same point. However, while he mused on all these things and tried to reason out why he felt no regret about it, Hekapoo had more than enough time to come charging at him with two clones at her sides, all armed with scissor-daggers. Instantly forcing him to go on the defensive, he was successful in deflecting her daggers but when he tried to unconsciously counterattack, his reflexes ground to a halt, allowing for Hekapoo to capitalize on it. Before Marco even realized what was happening, the blunt of the handle of her scissors slammed into his temple, knocking him to the floor in a daze.

"Get up, Marco." Hekapoo's tone allowed for no softness, no playful mischief. He thought of how she spoke in a tone befitting someone in the Magic High Commission-… no, a tone befitting a demigoddess.

Yeah, he was in deep shit this time.

'I can beat her… I can beat her,' he tried to console himself, to steel himself into thinking that he could even if he wanted to. As he tried to clear his mind to think of a strategy, he suddenly felt the earth beginning to shake violently. He instantly thought of the phenomenon as an earthquake, and quite a powerful one at that. Large cracks began forming in the ground and the walls, and the magnitude of the quake was enough to send Hekapoo and her clones off balance to the floor. Marco didn't quite suffer the same fate due to the fact that he was already on the ground, but he still fought against the quake in an effort to stand. "Alright… this is a bit _much_ …" he mumbled as the shaking ceased as soon as it'd began. "Now _earthquakes_? What the hell is going on?"

" _ **Omnitraxus is here…"**_ Appendaxuz intoned in the boy's mind.

"Omnitraxus?!" Marco boggled. First Hekapoo, then Omnitraxus Prime? Stacking that with Rhombulus and the Queen who were outside fighting Toffee, notwithstanding what their fates were, the _entire_ Magic High Commissionwas here. This was already far out of his control, and he was more than ready to call it quits for the time being. Eagerly looking around for his comrades, he called for their names. "Toffee?! Sienna?! We're leaving!"

Toffee was nowhere in sight-… Marco decided that he was out of earshot because he was still outside. However, his knight should've answered him. She had been in the hall with him the entire time.

There was no answer.

"Sienna?!" Whilst sliding his sword back into its scabbard, he eagerly looked to the podium where she'd been last, trying to spot her but couldn't. He realized that he hadn't heard anything from the podium for a while, and started to worry. "Maybe she teleported away," he tried to comfort himself. "Maybe I should too…" As he entertained the idea of his own suggestion, his eyes suddenly caught what he believed was a messy crop of ginger hair on one of the bodies on the stage. Taking one tentative step forward, then another, his stomach seemed to start tying itself in knots in dread as he began to worry that she had died-

His mind instantly broke away from the thought, although it was far too late as it had already been finished. His heart began racing; the increase in blood pressure made his some of his wounds bleed a little worse, but he didn't care. His slow trudging to the podium hastened a bit, despite his fearfulness of discovering the truth he didn't want to know.

"Sienna?" he called, his voice delicate. "Sienna?"

All around him, madness began anew; Toffee was suddenly blown through a damaged wall by some sort of explosive force and back into the ceremonial hall. He was a mess; his wounds healed quickly, though it could be said from the state of his clothing that he'd been on the wrong side of an ass-kicking. Omnitraxus Prime came thundering in through the remains of the wall after him, and the wrath of the demigod was heightened when he saw even more of the remains of the catastrophic battle. Believing that Toffee was the source of the destruction, he began to wield his space-time techniques violently at the Septarian, who'd already suffered having several body organs and limbs being instantly warped away out of him whenever he couldn't dodge fast enough and was at pains to keep on the evasive.

"Sienna?" Marco breathed, though the softness of his voice was lost in the insanity that broiled around him. At last, he made it to the podium and he clambered up on it at the location nearest to his knight. He neared her body now, and he was horrified to find her lying face down in a pool of her own blood. Finally getting to her side, as gently as he could, picked her up in his quiet strength. He could tell that she had numerous wounds, one in her leg (he hoped it wasn't her femoral artery), a clearly visible one in her gut that he prayed wasn't fatal, and who knew what else she was afflicted with. In light of these staggering wounds, he almost didn't notice as ever so slightly, the girl in his arms breathed in slowly before exhaling again. "Sienna?" he called louder, daring to hope now.

He didn't expect her to answer, but she did. Though inaudible in silent reaction, the girl's emeralds peeked out from behind heavy eyelids and smiled appreciatively at the boy in whose arms she rested. It was a quiet moment for the two, and for a moment, Marco believed that he could hear her ask him a question from her barely moving lips as she struggled to speak.

"You're a great Knight, Sienna. The _best_."

Then the audio in their world was suddenly heeded once more, and it was deafeningly loud. It was filled with the sound of Omnitraxus nearly trashing the entire place in an effort to kill Toffee, supported by the twin set of Hekapoo's clones. Over the noise, a voice spoke clearly in proximity to Marco; the boy found himself trying to tune it out, but he could not.

"So… you dragged that poor girl into your little war, hmm?"

His eyes rose from Sienna. Looking up, he saw Hekapoo standing before them-… he had not forgotten her, but her presence made it clear that he had to leave. Not only for his own sake, but especially for Sienna's. Her wounds itself weren't life-threatening, but her blood-loss was far worse than his and she would be likely to die from it unless properly treated as soon as possible. Trying to ignore Hekapoo's condemnation, he removed his scissors from his pants-pocket. This once, he was prepared to use magic in order to get his Knight to a safe place, and swallowed back his feelings of being a hypocrite. Opening it behind him, he then returned the scissors back to his pocket and picked up Higgs in a bridal carry as he stood up.

"We're leaving," he said quietly. That would have been the last word he had on the matter as he backpedaled to the portal to step backwards through it, but he might as well have walked through thin air. He passed through it without going anywhere, and as soon as he noticed this, the portal seemed to waft away and disappeared. He realized that this was due to the fact that Hekapoo had held out her arm at the portal and willed it to malfunction and cease.

"Did you think you can just come to Mewni, start an insurgency, kill people and get away with it?" Her voice was a mixture of rebuke and disappointment, though he tried his best to not let it faze him. "Hmm? Did you _think_ that I'd allow you to leave, and using my own creation to do it?" She waved her hand in an arc, gesturing to the entire ceremonial hall with the dead, injured and the destroyed that lied therein as well as on the outside. "You're going to have to answer for _all of this_!"

"I'll answer to everything when it's said and done!" Marco yelled. Angered that his departure was easily sabotaged, he tried to think of a way that he could escape but short of actually running with Sienna in his arms, he was out of luck, not to mention the fact that Hekapoo was the swiftest of the M.H.C.

"Damn it…" Marco cursed bitterly under his breath. "Appendaxuz, any ideas?" he hissed.

" _ **I have but two suggestions, but you'll like neither. Leave Higgs and flee with Toffee, as he's still capable of leaving under his own power."**_

"Of course not!" Marco retorted angrily out loud, his sudden outburst mildly confusing the two girls. "Why the hell would you suggest that?!"

" _ **Then perhaps you'll heed the other proposition… Invoke your powers of the King and slay Hekapoo. She's far too troublesome to remain alive."**_

"…What?" Marco asked weakly. Looking down at Sienna who was still bleeding out in his arms, he could see her eyes seemingly begging him to act and though he couldn't hear what she wanted, he sensed that she was pleading for them to leave. In the same moment, Hekapoo took a step closer to Marco, and her movement attracted Marco's attention. Looking at the demigoddess, he could tell that any action he took, she was prepared to halt him in his tracks.

Although his chances of fighting or leaving increased without Higgs in tow, Marco grasped that he would _never_ leave.

It was then that Marco was suddenly faced with his hardest decision to date… and made his choice. Gently resting Sienna on the ground again, he leaned his head down to her ear and whispered his farewell to her. In anguished understanding, tears began to well up in her eyes and burn their way down her cheeks. Trying her best to speak, the words were stuck in her throat, and her mouth curled uncontrollably in her grief. Weakly reaching up, her bloodied hand found his, and held on tightly despite her failing strength.

" _No…"_ she wheezed as if her heart was about to break. "Don't… _please_."

It was of no use. As lightly as he could, he pried off her grip and allowed her hand to fall over her own chest. "It's only for a while…" he murmured tenderly, "and what kind of a King would I be if I allowed my precious Knight to die?"

"… _What…? Don't leave me. Please…"_

He couldn't block out her voice, even if he wanted to. Higgs didn't understand exactly what he meant, and he was fully conscious that she still wouldn't approve if she knew. Standing up again, he stepped around her body slowly to the side as if trying to flank Hekapoo from her blind-spot. Hekapoo herself didn't move, but Marco didn't dare underestimate her; he was fully aware that she was still probably attentive and ready to act on the fly. "Well, Hekapoo. I guess it's going to happen. We're going to fight one another. I really didn't want it to come to this…"

She did not respond. She was still quiet, as the lunacy continued to rage all around them in the hall.

Slowly removing his sword from its scabbard, Marco heard it grating as he did so. With the sword now out of its sheathe, he observed that there were a few cracks in the sword, particularly in the side of the blade that he had used to cut Janna's shield in two, before killing her-

He tried to shake his head free of the thought, but it still plagued him. He was suddenly painfully aware that he had no conscience and it bothered him. He'd actually gone as far as to kill one of his former friends and who knew who else, even when she presented no threat to him. Marco had the idea that Appendaxuz had something to do with that, and frowned. 'When this is over, you're going to have to answer for _that_!'

" _ **Remember the time and place. Hekapoo is about to act. Whatever you're planning, execute it quickly."**_

Marco knew that he was right on that point, but that didn't detract from his feelings. He could tell that all of his feelings were there; his regret, his horror and his sadness for having done these actions, but perhaps there was some sort of wall that these feelings were stopped by, effectively barricading them from him. "I can't think too much about that now… Try to keep up, Hekapoo…" he mumbled. She seemed to have heard the small voice before he sprinted away from her, and took of after him. She was right there beside him every step of the way, side by side. Not surprised, he urged himself to move faster, and soon they were nothing more than blurs zipping around the hall.

Hekapoo, seemingly growing tired of the farcical running as if it were nothing more than a rival test of speed, lunged at him with her scissor-daggers. Marco easily batted them away each time she did so, and in reckless abandon, she ripped open a portal as she ran forward, and came through a portal that opened before him. Too fast to stop, he made a diving leap over her head, and as soon as he touched the ground arms-first past her, he fell into a perfect dive-roll. Exiting the roll, he then turned to run again at top speed. "You're gonna have to do better than that!"

"Are you fighting, or are you _running_?" With the question asked, four clones phased out of her, all armed as she was. "I don't intend to let you do _either_!" They all spoke in unison.

"Just five of you?" Marco said with a scoff, although hoping she wouldn't catch him off guard. "You're going to have to do better than that!" As if to answer to his taunt, they all began opening dimensional portals, through which all five disappeared through. Alarm bells went off in Marco's head as he made a mad dash to get out of his present location, before a Hekapoo clone nearly fell out of a portal right on top of him. Two more portals opened before him as he tried to escape, out of which lava poured from into his path. "Hot damn, is that lava from your dimension?!" Forced to make a detour, even from the last Hekapoo clone on the right, he turned left, only to encounter the real Hekapoo who waylaid him with her daggers in hand. At his current speed, he had no way of stopping quickly enough. He would've tried to jump overhead again, but in preparation for that, the flame atop her head flared up like a massive flamethrower as a deterrent.

It was then he dropped his sword as he started to skid his feet to a stop. Although confused by his action as if to question how he'd defend himself against her weapons, she didn't lower them, though the flame between her horns died down when she saw that he had no intentions of dodging her. In all things however, she had still underestimated him. The already small distance was concluded, Marco's hands darted past her guard even faster than she could attack him, and he grabbed her hands by the wrists to capture her hands. "Agh! Let go of me!"

"I'm not fighting you…" he said strangely. As if to add insult to injury, he started to squeeze her wrists painfully, forcing her to drop her daggers despite her efforts no to. Not finished yet, he swept them away from her, and quickly turned and had her face down on the ground faster than she could blink, already arresting both of her arms behind her on her back with only one hand.

"Bullshit!" she yelled. "You're fighting right now!" Though the arm-lock normally would've been painful, it was as if he was merely trying to pin her arms to the point of discomfort, but not enough to cause her any real pain. 'I shouldn't have taken it so easy on him!' she berated herself mentally. 'But why the hell is he taking it easy on _me_?'

"I'm only preventing you from stopping me!"

"From doing what? Killing the magic?!"

"That can wait 'till later. I've got other priorities right now." He looked around, only to see the lunacy continuing as the earlier pair of Hekapoo's clones, along with Omnitraxus, was trying to take down Toffee. Skilled or not, the Septarian was at pains to stay moving at all times, and Marco could tell that the Bishop's stamina was waning quickly. Omnitraxus Prime especially was using some sort of magic that instantly warped things and objects away whenever he blasted them with a blue force, and it was with this he was antagonizing Toffee. What was worse, the King, the Queen and Rhombulus was returning from the outside, and they both looked fairly well for people just coming out of a battle. "This is… _not_ good," Marco mumbled as he took out his scissors. Hearing the sound of the metal of them sliding from the fabric of his pocket, Hekapoo angled her head to see it, and her lone visible eye widened at the sight of it. Though not sharp enough for multifunctional use, they were certainly sharp enough to harm people, leading the demigoddess to assume the worst.

"Hey… you're not gonna hold me hostage with that thing, are you?!"

"Of course not," he said sotto voce, before returning his attention to Toffee, flipping the scissors in his hands to hold it by the point. "I've got a better use for it. HEY TOFFEE!" he bellowed the last, grabbing the Lizard's notice. Unfortunately, he grabbed everyone else's awareness, but he didn't care. "CATCH!"

Hoping that he had better luck throwing a knife-like blade this time around, Marco threw the scissors as hard as he could to the Bishop. To his delight, Toffee caught the scissors easily and easily recognized them for what they were. Before he could shout as to why they were given to him, Marco continued.

"Grab Sienna and get her out of here!"

"Your knight?!" he exclaimed the question as if to reaffirm, though he didn't need it.

"Just go! And if she dies… I'LL KILL YOU, immortality or not!" Marco shouted at the top of his lungs.

"… I understand." Knowing his orders and not questioning them, Toffee dodged the last of Omnitraxus Prime's attacks and hurried to get to the Knight, whom he picked up after opening a portal. "You have my word that she'll live." Before Hekapoo could attempt to free one of her arms to close the portal as she did before, Marco tightened his grip on her just in case and watched as his two comrades made their departure without him. He was nearly at the point of tears when he saw that Sienna was still trying to reach out to him, and was carried away by Toffee against her wishes. Soon enough, the portal closed, leaving the royal couple and the M.H.C. frustrated that their main target had escaped. That only left Marco; he was all alone, unarmed with no way of escape.

Outmatched and outnumbered, but he wasn't overcome as yet. Seeing all of them now focusing his attention on him, Marco gritted his teeth. "Gods, huh?" he mumbled angrily. "Bring it!"

"Diaz… so you're the one responsible for this!" Omnitraxus roared. "You and your hubris will fall today!" Already sending a wave of blue magic at him, Marco quickly grabbed Hekapoo and got the hell out of dodge with her in tow, just before the blast caught up to them. Strangely enough in that moment, Marco took notice that the impact of the magic didn't have any particular amount of force, yet still the entire area seemed to tremble. The idea behind this rolled around in his mind, but it was Appendaxuz who explained the reason.

" _ **He's using very potent magical abilities. While it is obvious that you need to stay clear of it, it's also clear that you need to stop him with haste; his current usage of magic is accelerating the degradation of the stability of the dimensions."**_

"He's _speeding_ up the apocalypse?!" Marco yelled. In his realization, however, Hekapoo took advantage of his distraction and wrenched free of his grip. Leaping away from him to rejoin the others, she started to chew out Omnitraxus for his lack of tact for attacking both her and Marco the way he did.

"You could've warped me away to somewhere dangerous, you know! Take better care about what you do!"

"I'm sorry. But let's not focus on that." In the meantime, Rhombulus had found her scissor-daggers and returned them to her, which she took gratefully. "Alright, let's all take care of him right here and now! Queen Moon, we'd like your assistance as well-…" The gigantic demigod looked around for the woman, only to spot her kneeling by her daughter's side along with her husband. Before she could even begin grieving, she discovered that Star was still alive though she was severely injured, that apparent by her head injury and the blood that she coughed every now and again to keep her air passageways clear.

"She's alive…" River observed. "Omnitraxus, what you did before to heal Rhombulus outside… could you do it again?"

"It's not healing; I merely turned back his personal clock. However, my time powers are still on cool-down and once I have them in the next few minutes, I'll rewind time for all those in here by up to fifteen minutes. Hopefully that's enough time to at least undo some of the casualties."

"You… can rewind time for individual people…?" Marco asked dumbly to himself. "That sounds powerful… maybe that's what caused the extreme earthquake earlier…" Before he could continue thinking along this line, two Hekapoo clones had snuck up behind him and grabbed both of his arms to render him helpless. They didn't take his strength into account however, and he pulled them towards himself and blew out their flames before they could properly react. "Guess now's not the time!" Marco yelled as they began to attack him. His constant low anger rising again to rival that of everyone else's and climbing ever higher, he back-flipped away as Rhombulus' snakes hands spat out crystals like bullet-projectiles. "You'd all better quit using magic right this minute!"

"Perhaps…" the Queen said gravely as she focused on Marco, now in a no-nonsense mood, "you've drawn breath for too long, Marco."

"Doesn't surprise me to hear you say that." Finding his sword since dropping it, he pointed at each of them in the room. "Appendaxuz warned me since last year that friends could and would turn into enemies. I didn't believe him, but I guess I was too dumb to listen to him when he told me the first time."

"You're dumb for listening to him at all. Take a good look around, Marco!" Hekapoo shouted. "You're the one who's become the enemy. Look at all this destruction, all of this pain, all this pointless death!"

"I agree!" River added in his own fury. "Look at the knights! And even your own friends! To think a character like this resided in you… I would've never allowed you in the castle in the first place, much less Mewni!"

"I'm fighting the M.H.C., but Queen Moon ordered them to attack me," Marco grumbled heatedly. "But as for my deeds… I suppose I wish I never opened the Book of Spells to find Appendaxuz, and learning that the entire universe is in danger. I would've preferred to live in ignorance. But I guess this is just a burden that I'll have to carry."

"You think that you're noble in all of this?" Moon asked in contempt as she let loose a barrage of magical spells from her fingertips, conjuring hazards to throw Marco off guard, or pound him to a paste. "You think you're a _hero_?"

"You should be aware that I hate having to do this. I know I'm long gone from the rails… but I know that you're not heroes either." Entering his stance with his sword, he resolved that he needed to fight his way out of the situation if he were to escape. He needed to wield his powers as a King, the very same powers he gained from Appendaxuz. "I may kill those who get in my way of getting to the Wellspring, and if I'm stopped, then you _won't_. Your usage of magic is going to cause the annihilation of EVERYTHING, including yourselves! So you can call me Evil-Fucking-Marco this, and Evil-Fucking-Marco that… I don't intend to STOP!"

"M.H.C., take him down!" Omnitraxus hollered at the top of his lungs. Since his time powers hadn't recharged yet and he was saving it for the Queen's use, he resumed using his spatial powers, causing low-level explosions in the hall as Marco raced to dodge them all, including the shrapnel blown from the broken benches and the tiles of the floor. However, he could tell that he was slowing down; he had expected that he'd grow in a certain fashion as he usually did whenever he exerted himself in doing an action, but it was Appendaxuz who explained the truth as much as he didn't want to hear it.

" _ **You've got enough stamina to outlast everyone, certainly, but your body can't take much more punishment. You're still wounded, suffering from hemorrhages and who knows what else. End this now, before they end YOU!"**_

Heeding the entity's warning, Marco stabbed his sword into the ground to prevent himself from sliding too far backwards, and charged the group of elite magic users as a surreal flame sprouted into existence on him, covering him and then the sword in his hand. "Before all else, Omnitraxus only speeds up the deadline! **Quod inquit rex**!" he yelled as he swung his sword in a vertical arc, aiming at Omnitraxus. "REND!"

He was still from Omnitraxus, so no one even thought for a second that anything would happen. Yet, the demigod, yea, even the entire ceremonial hall and the floor in front of Marco suddenly fell apart into two vertical halves in a shocking display of power. Everyone panicked for a second at sight of the wanton destruction (the very ground was nearly like a three-foot wide trench, and the ceiling and most of the upper part of the castle was no better), even the fact that the heaviest hitter appeared to be killed. This was their belief for a second but the two halves of the demigod rejoined one another, and Omnitraxus nearly sighed.

"It takes more than that to kill me, boy, but you're a far greater threat than I credited you for. Was that magic?! You hypocrite!"

"No…" Marco panted. He'd put nearly everything he had into using that much of Appendaxuz's power at once, and he felt like he himself was about to fall apart in shambles. "I may be a hypocrite for trying to use dimensional scissors, but that wasn't magic. Glossaryck is Lord of Magic, but to me, Appendaxuz is basically the Lord of Physics. Anything within his power of reason is doable. He can alter anything in reality, but Glossaryck's magic _warps_ reality!"

"What's the difference?" Rhombulus asked the question that was on all their minds.

"Magic is as magic does-…" Marco said sternly. "Appendaxuz can superheat what's cold, split an atom or break the hardest of elements, convert one form of matter into another, maybe even move the sun from its place with a lot of effort. But magic does the outright impossible… it breathes life into the non-living, it can completely destroy matter and energy, divide a number by zero, undetonate a bomb, count to infinity and make something out of nothing. That's the power that threatens the universe; the abuse of it is causing instability!"

"Like we'd believe that!" Queen Moon snapped at the now exhausted boy as the green flames of his aura began to die down. "That has barely any logic, and I can still hardly see the difference between the two! You could even be using low-level magic and we wouldn't know the difference!"

"I'm… not… lying," Marco groaned as he tried to steady himself. Taking note of his sword, he could see that the cracks from before had become more prevalent, and he could tell that it was just like his own body-… they both couldn't take much more misuse. In own mind, Appendaxuz fumed at the poor luck of the present situation, but there was nothing more that could be done.

" _ **Marco… it's over…"**_

"It's not over!" Marco cried. In his dizzying vision, he barely had the presence of mind to grasp that he was now in a fight he could not win; he was either that stubborn or persistent, Hekapoo couldn't tell which. "I'm not gonna stop! I _can't_!"

It was clear to the M.H.C. that he was on his last legs, but after seeing her daughter in the state she was in, Queen Moon was of no inclination to show mercy. She flew through a portal created by Hekapoo and entered the demigoddess' dimension, whereupon she flew for a mile at top speed. Reemerging through another portal in front of Marco a less than a split-second later in real time with extreme momentum, she landed three simultaneous powerful haymakers to the boy's face and chest and gut, pile-driving him into the ground with so much force that she made a crater with the boy at its epicenter. In his last moment of consciousness and his cry cut short, Marco wasn't focused on the agony, nor the ironic fact that Moon had repaid him with the same pain he'd inflicted on her daughter. Instead, he wondered if he had doomed the universe by failing to stop the M.H.C., and the guilts and suffering he'd put himself through had been all for nothing.

Then the Black King lost consciousness. It was over.

"I guess that's that," River monotoned as he stroked his beard. A nagging thought coming to mind, he reminded Omnitraxus about repeating what he did to Rhombulus to everyone else in the now-broken ceremonial hall, and the demigod nodded.

"Right. My powers over spatial time have recharged, and there's no time to waste mucking around. I can only use this ability twice a day." After intoning a few words under his breath to invoke his magic, white spheres (like bubbles) began forming over every person casualty in the hall, before phasing into them. Seeing this in effect, the Queen quickly flew over to her daughter and grasped her hand, wanting to see how the privy reversal of time would benefit her, if any. "Now for the dreadful part… we have to wait and see who'll be able to be saved by fifteen minutes."

"I hate the suspense too," Rhombulus agreed as he approached the small crater that Marco's body lied in, the only person who didn't have a time sphere in them to turn back his personal living clock. "I know you're not Lekmet, Omni, but you're almost as good."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," the security enthusiast mumbled. Finally reaching Marco, he kicked him in the side. Marco flinched in his unconsciousness, and Hekapoo frowned deeply at Rhombulus' actions.

"Hey, quit it," she demanded.

"I'm not trying to punish him or anything," he protested, trying to defend himself. "Just checking if he's alive so that I can crystallize him."

"Even alive, he's not worth crystallizing, only oblivion…" Omnitraxus Prime stated in a severe tone. As if to conclude what he said, one of the knights stirred from unconsciousness, and River recognized that it was Lady Whosits. They all watched as the woman tried to stand up, still close to being unconscious, though her internal clock was being rewound.

"Wha-…? The M.H.C.? Wait… you're reinforcements! What happened to Diaz? Did we beat him?"

"He's beaten," Moon confirmed. "Rest assured that he'll be in chains soon, and afterwards, he'll-"

"With all due respect, Queen Moon," the woman interrupted, "but he has to be put to the sword as soon as possible. That boy is far too dangerous to allow alive for even another minute!"

Queen Moon tried to make the woman come to terms that the boy was now overpowered and defeated. "I understand that he uses special powers with his sword, as unremarkable the sword itself is-"

"I don't know which 'powers' you're speaking of," the knight interrupted again, which was rapidly becoming an annoyance to Moon as she couldn't even finish her sentences. "That boy is capable of becoming so powerful that I was beginning to doubt if the members of the M.H.C. could beat him."

"You don't seem to hold us in good faith as to our strength," Omnitraxus started to say, but once again, the knight interrupted in her hurry to explain.

"He grows stronger with every effort he puts out and every conflict he fights in!" the woman yelled, trying to make them understand. "For instance, when he and I fought, I held the battle in my favor in terms of strength, but over the course of it, his strength soon matched mine before he overpowered me!"

"But you're already so strong!" Moon turned to look at Marco's limp form, before returning her attention to the Lady. "While it's clear that he's in very good shape, he doesn't even have the same muscle mass that you do. How can he be stronger?"

"That's not all! The same factor applies to his injuries. The only reason we could hold him for so long was because the wounds he got from the start of the conflict had weakened him enough. After that, swords didn't even cut him as deeply-... One would think that after every cut, his skin would put on an extra layer of invisible armor."

It was silent for a while, but Omnitraxus soon broke it. "This is troubling. Perhaps not even a crystallizing from Rhombulus would hold him… and if he were to be executed, would a guillotine suffice in killing him?" Without even waiting for anyone's response to his rhetorical question, he blasted Marco with a magic spatial spell, warping him away in an instant. In immediate worry, Hekapoo winced as the thought that Marco, like many of Omnitraxus' opposers over a millennia, had been banished to somewhere fatal, like the No Man's Land group of dimensions.

"What the **hell** , Omnitraxus Prime?!" Hekapoo yelled in indignation. Omnitraxus eyed her strangely-… she _never_ called him by his full name unless she was really pissed at him. This was one of the worst cases he'd ever seen of her; she looked angry enough to kill him where he stood just by looks alone. "Why did you do that?!" Already trying to open a portal to Marco, she found that the portal refused to open, leading her to believe with horrible realization that Marco was now outside of the dimensions, and was out in somewhere spatial. "YOU SENT HIM INTO SPACE?!"

"Only way to completely get rid of him. And you heard… he's too dangerous to leave alive."

She seemed to ignore this detail, and stepped forward to the demigod in a threatening manner. "Bring him back!"

"Tough. I can't, even if I wanted to. I can only warp away what I can _see_. I can't bring things back. I myself can't even teleport without your help."

"I vote he stays where he is," Lady Whosits offered. She was marginally ignored by everyone there as Hekapoo stepped forward, her daggers in hand. If there was ever a time that the usually good-humored demigoddess ever looked like a she-devil, it was now. She was completed wreathed in flames, and looked about ready to kill Omnitraxus.

"Then send me to where he is!"

"You want to die?" Omnitraxus retorted angrily as he gave her a death glare of his own. "You can die on your own time, not trying to save the person who's trying to kill ALL OF US!"

"I'm warning you, Omnitraxus Prime!" Her voice nearly boomed as much as his did, and it was downright horrifying to see her behave like this. "Send me to where he is, or you're not gonna like what I'm going to do if I'm still HERE!"

" _Is that a threat_?" he asked gravely.

The demigoddess bristled in her rage. "You're about three seconds away from wishing it's only a threat!" Time itself seemed to distort into minutes when she said this, but the Space-Time master actually counted the first two seconds. Just before he counted the third, he lost his nerve, and blasted Hekapoo with his warping magic, teleporting her away into oblivion.

Hekapoo had shut her eyes when the flash of the magic had temporarily blinded her. When she reopened her eyes a second later, she saw nothing except stars, and far off celestial bodies and assorted planets, each with their own features. Floating in the recesses of space, the demigoddess would've thought the sight of it pretty, but had much more imperative matters at hand right now-… that being saving the Diaz she'd come to rescue. As she looked around her for where he was, she saw him floating close by. Just before she could make an attempt to rescue him, however, she encountered the frightening fact that her flame had gone out… and she couldn't breathe.

It was frigid and airless in space.

Nothing topped her immediate panic, excepting her concern that Marco had been in this fatal environment for a little while before her. Rejoining her daggers to form scissors, she tried to open a portal to get to him, but made the horrible discovery that it wouldn't work. 'Oh no. I can't open portals to anywhere outside of the dimensions, but I can teleport back to the inside the multiverse. But my flame's gone out…!'

The need to breathe was always an urgent issue with her. Being a flame-oriented being, she had to be in an oxygen-rich environment to keep her flame burning, and it didn't burn for long when none was present… it was like an echo of her own life, and the only way to nurture it was by using oxygen from the environment, or oxygen from her lungs. She was already nearing empty already, and she hadn't even gotten closer to Marco as yet. Doubling her efforts, she tried to 'swim' towards him, but it was an awkward failed attempt, as she'd never even done anything of the sort before… no surprise why.

Already, her sense of self-preservation kicked in, but she fought against the want to save her own life by bailing early from the rescue attempt. In the wake of the moment, her anxious mind screamed for a solution and found one. Creating a clone that phased out of her, she kicked off the clone before it disappeared (due to its flame dying out abruptly) to quickly move towards Marco. Finally reaching him, she grabbed the teen in a tight hug in her fervent hope to preserve his life.

She'd caught up to him. Holding the cold youth in her arms, he unconsciously leaned forward into her as if to embrace more of the only comforting warmth in the entire universe-... a passionate heat, yet one that was familiar to him. Her own naturally fiery body temperature, though falling as the vacuum of space tried to steal it from her, she expended even more of her precious oxygen to flare up both her flame and her body heat for his sake in an effort to chase away the frigidity in his veins.

To save his life, she would _never_ let him go.

Finally in the right position as they floated towards one constant direction, she urgently slashed open a one-way portal that they smoothly glided through. The second they made it through, they fell to the floor still tightly grasping one another. Hekapoo had the presence of mind to let him go promptly before the wrong kinds of questions were asked, though it could be said that he was a little grabby to her touch as they started to gasp in mouthfuls of air. With each breath she took to stave off asphyxiation, the flame atop her head blazed larger and larger, before Moon had to caution her to stop hyperventilating before she burned down the ceremonial hall.

"Damn it, Omnitraxus!" Hekapoo exclaimed as she slowly came down from her high. "You really send people to a merciless death like _that_?! I nearly died out there in goddamn _SPACE_!"

"For the record, _you_ were the one who wanted to go there, all for the sake of _this_ boy…" he pointed at the still-unconscious Diaz with a thumb. "He should've died alone. Given what he's capable of, how are we supposed to deal with a brat who gets stronger the way he does? Hmm? Put him under ball and chain and double the weight daily? I can't see that _ever_ working out."

"Calm down. I may not look it, but I know a thing or two about how a body works." Kneeling down beside Marco whilst parting her scissors into daggers, she then started to open up tiny portals inside Marco's body, taking great care as she worked.

"What are you doing?" Rhombulus queried out of curiosity.

"I'm opening portals in his tendons to separate how they work from his muscles and his bones. It's the same as cutting them to cripple him, but with less pain and blood."

"His tendons…" Moon pondered on this for a bit. "I see! Despite his muscles, if his tendons don't work to support his limbs, he may as well have no strength at all. He's well and truly neutralized." Coming to a decision, she nodded in approval. "Very well, I'll allow it." Hardly had she said this did the earth begin to shake violently, forcing Hekapoo to stop before she snipped a portal in Marco where she didn't want it. She even had to brace herself on the floor just to keep herself from going off balance, waiting it out until it passed.

"Geez, where're all these earthquakes coming from?"

"They've been happening nonstop since Omnitraxus Prime's time-thingy started working for some people," River offered.

"Probably a coincidence," said demigod grumbled when everyone stared at him for a moment. "But in any case, it'll soon pass. Not to mention, Marco is now under control, right? Everything will work out." To this, Hekapoo did not answer. At last, she finished incapacitating Marco, and the demigoddess tried her best not to let her true emotions show.

The Black King was in check.

 **And that concludes the Pawn-fights. Feels like Marco took one step forward and two steps backward, am I right? But for all the reveals, especially in this chapter, it makes you start to wonder if Marco is still the bad guy. Some things were answered and confirmed, but now a whole bunch of other things are still unaccounted for.**

 **About Omnitraxus… oh yeah, he's a really powerful guy. I guess that he is… given the fact that bad guys tend to target him first while he's still off guard, and that he can see into other universes, fix time loops… He's the SPACE-TIME GUY, according to his own words.**

 **As per the fights, I tried my best. I hope it was good enough to help fulfill the adventure tag of the fic. Drama, doubly so. I guess that's it.**

 **How was it?**

 **Goodbye everyone/ Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	20. Story: Castling

**Vestiges**

 **20.**

 **Castling**

It had been two days. Throughout it all, Jackie had been somewhat ailing (a mild fever that lasted from before the ill-fated ceremony), but it could not possibly come close to the suffering that her friends and newfound companions were going through. All of them, at the very least, suffered multiple broken bones, be it torso, limbs or cracks in their skulls, and yet still, it paled in comparison to what had been done to Janna.

And to think that it was at the hands of Marco. Their friend.

Honestly, Jackie had always felt left out when it came to things like this. Whenever Marco and Star used to go adventuring with each other while they were still on Earth, Jackie could tell that she was never really suited for the lifestyle, and that was apparent on the few times it involved her, such as the field trip to another dimension, or even the sleepover where they had to make certain confessions…

When Marco returned from Mewni, (though his mind and heart had never left it), this case was even more of the same. Whenever Marco went through his changes, went through his life, made his own choices, Jackie had always felt like a foreigner. Sure, they got into a relationship together and despite their dates, the kisses that they shared, she felt almost as if they were boyfriend and girlfriend in name only.

Suffice to say, she almost felt sorry that she didn't get beaten up by Marco… just to fit in with everyone else who was. She could care for the matter, but she hated not being able to share empathy for those caught in the disaster. For Kelly whose vision was still crossed because of her knockout blow, and was still confined to her bed because of her broken ribs. For Tom, who had been buffeted and hurt all over, and was being nursed back to health in his home dimension in the underworld. For Pony Head, who had incurred aches and pains and the loss of her distinguishing pride of her royal family, only for it to be used as a common stabbing weapon. For Star, who had lapsed into a coma by her own weird biology…-her internal injuries and concussion were that severe. And for Janna…

Jackie didn't allow herself to cry. Nothing had been confirmed yet. As far as she had heard, Janna hung in limbo, in a state of being both alive and dead. The technicalities surrounding her fate was still unsolved, and she had to be crystallized in order to put her in indefinite stasis until her problem could be solved.

But Jackie's own foolishness aside for not being 'included' in the tragic affair, the teen was now walking aimlessly through around the damaged ceremonial hall, not truly belonging there, especially not since it's destruction and tragedy from a few days ago. She didn't really have anyone to speak or even related to. And how far would she have gotten simply by saying that she was the ex-girlfriend of a 'well-intentioned' villain and an acquaintance of the princess he nearly murdered?

Breaking her thoughts, a fiery portal opened in the wrecked ceremonial hall, just in front of one of the only benches that weren't entirely wrecked. An alabaster-complexioned woman of a relatively short and buxom build stepped out of it, but coupled with her description, the fact that she was dressed in clothes that looked like flames and had a fire constantly burning betwixt her horns, Jackie instantly recognized her as one of the members of the M.H.C.

Said M.H.C. member seemed absent-minded as if she didn't notice Jackie's presence in the hall, or she did not care. Jackie, however, merely continued to observe the woman as she casually took a seat on the bench, and closed the portal she had come out of. For a while, Jackie tried to figure out why the demigoddess would just come back to the scene of a battle just to sit on a busted bench, rather than doing something more productive like… anything _else_ , actually.

So Jackie asked her. Just to pick her brains a little.

"Hey, you were here two days ago during the battle, right? Shouldn't you be out doing something else? Investigation or help relief or something?"

"Why? I should be out fixing the damage your boyfriend caused, right?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Jackie said as best as she could without making it sound as if she wanted Marco to be in a relationship with her.

"Whatever. Besides, there's nothing else to do besides being his warden. Now, what do you want human? Did you want someone or something to talk _at_?" Hekapoo asked in annoyance.

Jackie heard irritation, but despite her common sense, prattled on. "Don't you mean talk 'to', and not 'at'?"

"I certainly did not INTEND on having a conversation with you, that's what."

After that, she lapsed back into silence for a while, but Jackie didn't want to leave well enough alone. Perhaps it was because she still felt like an outsider and wanted to get more information on the recent state of affairs so that she could relate, or she just wanted to confirm a rumor that was running through the castle.

But to just rush to that topic would be tactical suicide. Especially when the person was liable to burn her to a crisp or eat her alive or something… who knew what these people were capable of?

Jackie took a seat on the bench beside Hekapoo taking care not to sit on splinters or upright nails. "Aren't you the one that yanked Marco from Earth and made him do a trial to get dimensional scissors?"

Hekapoo didn't say yes. More importantly, she didn't say _no_ , and that's what Jackie was working with.

"For something that lasted for sixteen years as I've been told, I think that Marco should've at least disliked you or something. Instead, all I'm hearing from a few gossiping knights was that he didn't seem to be **trying** to fight you."

Hekapoo was still quiet.

"When I was on Earth, like, before Star showed up, I'll admit that he's never been close to me. Heck, even when we were dating, I doubt that we ever really got close. It's almost like eating food, and never really getting full… it just always felt kinda… hollow. Like I've never really belonged there beside him. Or maybe I'm giving him too much credit, and he's not the one who belonged beside ME." Hekapoo did not respond to this, but Jackie took notice that the demigoddess was now listening. It wasn't because she was forced to, but because it was obvious that she could've left at any time she wanted but hadn't.

"But I dunno. Maybe this is going to sound a little perverted or I'm just an idiot, but there were others who seemed to fit in with him a lot more than I ever could. Like Star, or that 'Higgs' girl that everyone seems to hate right now, or Kelly, even Janna. I'm even getting that same kind of vibe from you too."

"Hmm… I'd say that you're an idiot."

Jackie smiled to herself at the success of getting a reaction out of the woman, even if it was just an insult that Jackie herself had set up. "That's not the point. It's obvious that the two of you have some history for that to happen. He doesn't hate you, and you don't seem to hate him either. How'd that happen?"

"It's none of your business."

Almost at once, Jackie's usually laid-back attitude splintered and broke apart. "Oh, it's definitely my business when Marco almost kills his and MY friends, especially when one of them is in a coma and another one is stuck in a limbo of life and death-… something I can't even wrap my head around. You're a member of the group of people that he's against personally, and he showed you special treatment!"

"Because he's an idiot, a'right! Now leave me alone!"

"Then you're an idiot too because you chucked out into space to save him! Demigoddess or not, I will _kick_ your ass if you don't tell me why right now!"

It was more than she could take. It was an insult, sure, and those were never really good for someone's wellbeing. But at a time when she was mentally exhausted like this, being harassed by human had to be the lowest point in her life. Ways of killing the annoyance by dropping her into a dangerous portal passed through her mind, each destination more horrific and self-gratifying than the last. And yet, Hekapoo felt like she would've lost something. She would've lost the argument by default, simply by killing Jackie.

Tempting. No witnesses. No one would know. But she'd know. From then on, she'd know that a human girl figured out that she was in love with a boy who passed her trial, and she had killed her because she stated something that even someone with the intelligence of a goldfish could figure out.

"It's… true. We're both idiots," Hekapoo admitted in a whisper. "I guess it just happened. And it didn't even mean much back then, either."

"Happened? What happened…?"

"I live in a dimension that's running on a different timescale than Earth's own. But as far as I can tell, it happened when he was twenty-four years old. For the first time in about…" Hekapoo started to count on her fingers, "I guess roughly five human centuries, give or take a couple of decades, I _needed_ help. And it had to be from a human… a real indignity to me."

"You've got something against humans?"

"I don't hate humans… I just have a low opinion of 'em. That's all. If there was a food chain between all the beings in the dimensions, if humans were lucky, they would end up qualifying as _grass_. They multiply fairly quickly, they're weak, spineless, can hardly fend for themselves… and have some of the shortest lifespans I've ever seen."

"I don't exactly have a high opinion of you either."

"I know that." With a sigh, she tried to get comfortable on the bench. "I know that I'm not perfect. I can be cruel, heartless, vindictive and bitchy, all of those things. And that was exactly how I treated Marco. He had my stolen scissors in his possession, so I was really eager to put him down and be done with it. But that guy's like a weed or something-… he just _kept coming back_. I mean, he was so persistent that I could barely find the time to keep diverting him away from my workshop with the clones he was after. Finally, he got stranded in dimension X-105, the dimension known for its winter fourteen out of sixteen months of their year. It was really cold there… It was like the inside of an ice cube during midday, and don't get me started on how cold it was at night. I was the one trying to strand him there so that he'd die-… just so that I'd be rid of him. I had better things to do than being chased all over the multiverse by a human. But he held out in his cave for six months, and it was so cold outside that he couldn't even be away from a fire for even two hours before catching hypothermia. I know that he even nearly got frostbite a couple times."

"Are you usually like this to everyone who takes your quest? You know… unnecessarily cruel?" Jackie deadpanned.

"No. But I admit that I made it especially hard for him… I was getting really pissed at him during first few years. The whole time when he started the challenge, he's like 'I won't give up 'till I get back those scissors'," she said in a poor imitation of Marco's voice. "I even made a few portals that would send him home, but he never went through them. He didn't even peek-… it's as if he worried that if he even so much as look through, he'd only want to give up, and I know that he really wanted to go back to his loved ones. Eventually, I just stopped giving him those chances."

"Gee…" Jackie grumbled with a frown, "you really _are_ heartless. What happened next?"

"He kinda disappeared for a few weeks without my clone catching a peep from the old abandoned castle she was watching him from. But in a tundra like that, it'd be impossible for my clone to stay alive outside for even a few seconds without a blizzard blowing out its flame. So… in my moment of stupidity, I decided to go check for myself if he really was dead. I have to confirm when people who're taking the quest die or give up so that I can accommodate newcomers. So… that's what I did..."

…

" _Oi! Human! You alive?" Hekapoo yelled as she clambered up the slope with great difficulty. The level of snowfall was always at least more than just a few METERS high, not to mention the fact that blizzards kept coming right after the other. Luckily, Hekapoo was still warm due to her magical biology. However, she could tell that she was on a time limit, as the temperature was still falling. The last thing she wanted was to open a portal in his direct proximity only to be jumped in a surprise attack… well, that came second to actually dying in a place like this._

 _She knew that his main dwelling place was a cave close to the top of a hill where the mouth of it curved downwards so as to not allow snow to freely blow inside. It wasn't very high up a hill, but he only dwelled there in this dimension so as to avoid getting snowed in. Getting trapped by snow was certainly a great fear of his, Hekapoo decided with a shrug. Still climbing up the mountain, she finally took notice that there seemed to be quite a lot of handholds and footholds she could hold on to, or step on. Kicking away a bit of snow from the one she was standing on, she realized that it was the remains of a tree stump, hacked away almost to the roots. It was with a somewhat growing sense of guilt that she realized what had happened to the tree that that stood there, and she looked around only to see a few more of the very same stumps littering the side of the hill. Regardless, as if she didn't want to believe her own theories, she decided to inquire into the reasons._

 _Using her telepathy with her clones, she mentally reached out to the very one who had been observing Marco from the castle far away from the location. 'Hey, what happened to the trees around here?'_

" _Isn't it obvious?"_ _The clone replied to her over the mental link,_ _"the human must've chopped down the trees to burn just to keep himself warm in his cave. But he still can't find enough animals in the area to skin just to make himself a big fur coat that can keep him warm long enough to make it to the castle I'm in."_

 _Looking around again at some of the stumps that weren't hidden by the immense amount of snow, she asked a slightly more specific question. 'So how many trees were there to begin with?'_

' _How many? Hold on, let me get the telescope…_ _' Post this, it seemed that the clone had gone to get a telescope, and it wasn't too long before she came back again to speak over the mental link._ _'Alright, I see you. Whoa… I guess I lost track of what was going on over there for a while, but there used to be a whole damn forest covering that hill where you're standing. Even the bottom of the hill too. A decent lot of trees around the area."_

" _A forest?" Hekapoo blurted out loud. "There's nothing here but a couple of stumps!"_

" _I'm not a conservationist. I'm just a friggin' clone that's stationed here just to have a human to blow my fire out. If you've got a problem with it, take it up with_ _ **him**_ _."_

 _Hekapoo cut the mental link immediately. "Smart-mouth." With a bit of urgency now, she went up the snow-covered hill faster now, trying to get to the cave that Marco was taking shelter in. She soon arrived at the entrance, and the natural sloping of the roof that half-covered the roof was low enough to make her duck her head just because of her horns. Sometimes, she just hated having the useless things. Was she designed to gore people like a bull or something?_

" _Thanks a lot, Glossaryck. Some sick imagination you have," she mumbled sarcastically and angrily._

 _Letting her exasperation pass, she entered the cave but found it almost pitch black, save for the flame that burned between her horns. Flaring it brighter and hotter, there was now enough light for her to see, and the first thing to attract her attention was the human who was sleeping on the dirt floor of the small cave like an animal. He was half-covered with the coat of small animal skins he was trying to make, but it was only enough to cover his back, just as the clone had informed her. In maintaining her distance from the man, she noted that he was shivering every now and again, and the animal skins didn't even come close to being enough to keep him warm._

 _In this area that the human challenger was been stranded in, there used to be a village close in design to Mewni's, until it was afflicted by a harsh winter brought on by a sudden and severe climate change. Although random by incident, it was still quite brutal; most weren't used to such weather, and most had died out waiting for the weather change to revert itself, before the rest decided to move on in search of a more appropriate climate before they too shared the same fate. Leaving their homes behind, it was well that they did, before the worst of the winter snowed them in and completely covered their homes that their roofs couldn't even be seen anymore. All that truly remained above the new-found snowy ground was the upper half of a castle that was too distant from the point that Marco had entered the dimension from, and he had to detour to the nearby cave he was now in before the blood froze in his veins._

 _For months upon months, he had lasted by using the cave as shelter, tending a fire from using the trees in the area. His water came from the ice and snow he melted in an old saucepan he had the good chance of finding earlier. His food came from the small critters that he managed to find and trapped whenever he emerged from the safety and warmth of the cave, and their skins he salvaged in an effort to make a coat that would keep him warm enough to get to the castle he knew the Hekapoo clone was taking shelter in._

 _This, however, was his mistake that Hekapoo realized that he had only just found out. Those small squirrel-like creatures were very few in number because they were the only ones who managed to adapt to their now permanent winter landscape, and they needed the trees to make their homes in and to get their food from. The human had cut down the trees for the fire he needed to keep surviving, trees that would not grow again for decades. He had done so, believing and hoping that he'd be able to make a coat before they ran out, but he had never counted on the fact that he'd run out of animals and skins to make the coat before he finally ran out of wood._

 _This was the person she found. The human was now in his final few hours of life; trying to clutch at the warmth of a coat was would never be enough, now in the depths of the slumber he was doomed to die in, sleeping next to the dying embers of the last fire that gave off even less heat than a matchstick._

" _So this is the human who's going to get dimensional scissors, huh?" she asked boredly as she approached his shivering sleeping form, before sitting on the other side away from him with her back leaning against the wall of the cave. "You had the nerve to take on my challenge… only to die in your sleep. I guess I don't have to leave yet, only to come back later-… I can't end the quest until you kick the bucket, so I might as well wait it out."_

 _Of course, he did not answer._

 _She waited like this for a while but soon found that she easily got bored listening to the human draw haggard breath after breath. It wasn't as if she_ _ **wanted**_ _him to die. She just wanted him to hurry up and be done with it. Fifteen minutes passed before she quickly grew bored and started to wonder how much longer it would take for him to perish. Opening up a small portal back to a small bookcase in her workshop, she peered through and skimmed over the titles. Most of the bookcase was taken up by books of contemporary romance (the adult kind that she usually liked to read while drinking a glass of lava Chardonnay), though there were a few other miscellaneous books there as well. Hesitating in her choice, instead of picking her favorite novel, she picked out a medical book and started to skim the 'H' section, trying to find out more specifics about hypothermia. She blazed her flame brighter now so as to provide enough light to read with._

" _Tch, you're a lot of trouble," Hekapoo mumbled. "Now, I'm gonna have to learn about something totally unnecessary. Alright, now how do I check for a pulse to find out how severe his hypothermia is. Oh? His neck?"_

 _She got up to move across to sit next to him, and reached down to rest her hand on his neck, but before she could do this, she realized that he had stripped out of his shirt while she had been reading, and nearly started to dig into the ground as if he were a wild animal in his state of now half-consciousness. "What … the fuck…? When did you take off your clothes? As a matter of fact… why WOULD you?!" Turning back to her book, she skimmed through the headings of adverse side-effects of the illness. "Okay, here it is… paradoxical undressing when the victim becomes disoriented. Terminal burrowing into dark corners or into dirt when in the final stages of hypothermia is not uncommon. Guess you're not too long due for a pine box, right human?" Chuckling as she turned back to Marco, the laughter died in her throat when she realized that Marco had stripped out of his pants now, and the demigoddess stared._

 _She didn't stop staring._

 _Half-biting her bottom lip nervously, she almost_ _ **reluctantly**_ _tore her eyes away from him and returned her attention back to the book. "There isn't anything about hypothermia affecting his size, is there?"_

…

"You're a pervert, aren't you?" Jackie deadpanned when Hekapoo began to giggle at the memory somewhat perversely. It was even more apparent by the red tinting in her face, but being accused upset her a little, making her roll her eyes.

"You prude. It's not as if I took a picture or anything," she remarked, lying through her teeth. "I was purely about the medical aspect of his situation."

"I don't believe you." In order to prove her innocence (though she hardly was), Hekapoo opened up a small portal through which she reached her arm through and retrieved a pocket-sized book with a pen in its binding. After closing the portal, she handed the book to Jackie and motioned for her to read it. Turning to the first page, Jackie read the entry out loud.

"'Hour 1: I learned to check for his pulse, and I procured a thermometer so I can check how close the human is to bite the dust, but not literally. He's removed his clothes in his sleep, and is digging into the floor as if he's crazy. Temperature is 77 degrees, Heart rate is 32 beats per minute. He ought to buy the farm pretty soon.'" Turning back to Hekapoo, Jackie asked the most obvious question on her mind. "Is this a diary? A sick and twisted and psychotic diary?"

"Well… Kinda," Hekapoo said, taking the light insult in stride. "I was using it to note his progress to dying. A bit cold of me, but the opposite happened. Keep reading."

Nodding to the small obligation, Jackie did just that. "'Hour 2: I was getting a bit disturbed by the human's burrowing in the ground while naked, but I didn't interfere. TBH, I found it hilarious at first, but it was like a bad joke getting old. Temperature is still 77 degrees, but his heart rate is now 34 beats per minute. It must be because he's still half-digging the ground." Moving on, Jackie skipped the third and fourth entry, and read the fifth since she realized that the book could be full of these entries (since it was obvious that Marco survived the illness.) "Hour 5: It was taking this bastard even longer than I thought to die. I was getting uncomfortable reading my romances with this naked human in the cave with me and despite the logic that he should die faster without clothes, I decided to put them back on him. Temperature is now at 79.5 degrees, Heart rate increased to 36 beats per minute.' Alright." Jackie looked up. "So you had the heart to put his clothes back on, and he got better, but only accidentally because you were too stubborn to leave until he died."

"It did help his chances of surviving a little bit," Hekapoo agreed, "But he still should've frozen to death easily. The last ember of his puny fire went out completely in the third hour, and since he wasn't eating, his body had no way of generating warmth for him at all. He SHOULD have died. Skip to the eighth hour."

Jackie nodded. "Okay." She flipped to the entry and started to read it. 'Eighth hour: Things got weird…'"

…

 _Hekapoo felt something nudge against her side. Looking up from the romance she was reading, she was nearly horrified to see the human man next to her; he had been lying on his belly almost completely on the other side of the cave, but he had somehow crawled his way towards her in his weak and unconscious state. Recoiling away from him as if he had a contagious illness, with an air of confusion, she decided to retreat to the position that he was in first. However, hardly five minutes passed before the weak man was by her side again. In a violent fit, she kicked him away, hoping to keep him away from her permanently, but he persisted. Though ill-treated, he was beside her again, and the demigoddess felt her irritation grow._

" _Damnit, leave me alone, human!" Kicking him even harder again, she then sat again but this time, now watched him carefully. After a few minutes, he was soon at it again, crawling towards her albeit even more slowly now that she had severely hurt his badly weakened body. To hurt him any more would be sure to kill him, and she exercised restraint. This became harder and harder to do as she watched him near her, and wondered why the hell he was so gravitated towards her._

 _That was when she realized the obvious._

" _Oh, duh. The fire above my head!" She wondered out loud. "That's also why he seemed to be improving a little bit these last few hours. I've been increasing the flame a lot so I could use the light to see, but it's also increasing the temperature in the cave. If that's the case, if he's gonna die sooner rather than later, I just need to leave."_

 _Before she could make do on this act, however, Marco had reached her again and much faster this time around, most likely because he was now fully conscious because of her kicking him. This time, instead of stopping at her side while lying still on the ground, he managed to rouse himself into sitting up and hugged the shocked demigoddess as tightly as he could, trying to salvage her excessive body heat in order to desperately warm himself._

" _Please don't leave," he wheezed pathetically. "I need you…" After this, his low speech warbled and trailed off, leaving her to think that he was trying to 'come on' to her, unbelievable as it was. Having apparently expended what little energy he had left, he now sagged unconscious; his grip slacked a bit, and the main reason why he was still upright was that he was leaning against Hekapoo. The demigoddess herself was still shocked to even react properly and shift away from him, much less push him off._

" _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit-"_

…

"So you helped him live," Jackie smiled good-naturedly before it fell. "You were waiting around for him to die, and you accidentally saved his life. But that hardly explained why he's attached to you."

"That's because it didn't. After a few more minutes, I finally came to my senses and bucked him off before I teleported outta there," Hekapoo deadpanned. "I still didn't care for the guy. At least, I thought I didn't. I stayed at my workshop for the next day after that, wondering how long before I could go back to find his corpse. But my life dragged on after that… my work got more monotonous, my food seemed to have no taste, my hobbies, hell, my books just seemed to lose their entertainment value altogether. I'm not sure if it was because I was starting to pity him, but I had found a welcome change from my constant way of living just by associating with him. I didn't care if me being close to him saved his life, but I only wanted the distraction from the daily life I got when I was there. Like a sick hobby."

Flipping through the book until the entries ended halfway, Jacked asked a rhetorical question. "So you went back, huh?"

"Yep. I went back. He's lucky that I did. That was the closest he came to death's door in that cave… trembling like a leaf in the cold, and starving like a runaway mongrel."

"But the entries look like they last for a week, even more. Doesn't that mean you fed him and such in order to keep him around so long?"

"Uh huh," Hekapoo mumbled half-ashamedly, "I had to keep the _distraction_ around as long as I could… so… I started to take care of him, but I didn't care ABOUT him as just I said, just as a crazy hobby. That was the case at first, but even when he was helpless, he just grew on me. You know, like getting too close to a stray puppy. I kept him at distance at first, visiting when I believed he was unconscious-… I would usually just make a fire for him once every few hours, leave food and water every now and again, and record his vital information each hour. In the end, instead of just being a weird habit, I actually started looking forward to doing it. Not just doing it _because_ of him, but I started looking forward to doing it _for_ him."

With a shaky sigh, Hekapoo tried to gather herself, and Jackie allowed her a moment so that she could continue her story.

"I liked helping him, and I liked him too. But for the quest's sake, I tried to keep up some caution and give him some distance. After he recovered a bit, he always tried to talk to me when he realized that it was the actual original Hekapoo who was helping him, but I never stuck around. I stopped visiting regularly, just so he couldn't predict when I'd show up. I cared about him, but I didn't want him to catch on-...I tried to make sure that he didn't know that. I tried to give the impression that I was doing it out of pity, but things started to go downhill with him after a while. He stopped eating the food I brought him, and the water went untouched. I don't think he even tried to sit close to the fire I would make for him. Sometimes, he'd just kick it out as soon as I'd light it. He was starting to weaken again, but he wouldn't take my help. I began to worry about him-… I didn't worry anymore about losing some side interest. I was just scared that he'd actually die."

"Is that so?" Going back a few pages, Jackie started to skim through the entries. In doing so, she noticed with great interest that somewhere along the line, Hekapoo's entries had stopped calling him 'Human', then soon started to refer to him with pronouns. Before long, she was soon using his proper name in the entries and called him 'Marco'. The girl realized that Hekapoo had indeed started caring for him as she nursed him carefully in the beginning, and this grew even more deeply during the latter period when she pretended to still try to keep him at arm's length. Though mostly done for herself (as she said before as a 'welcome distraction'), Hekapoo had long come to have affection for the human. Even without Hekapoo telling her the story now, it was still obvious to anyone who even read her book of entries. From the stout font in the beginning as she only wrote shorthand specifics and nowadays acronyms. Then there was a transition into an easier letter type that described Marco's condition that came later on, then the last set of entries that was filled with a flowing and loving cursive that carefully recorded Marco's detailed state of health, his actions, even the things he said in his sleep. She even wrote about the ways she could alleviate his suffering in the cave, such as bringing him warm bedding for him to sleep on. Things kept on like this in the final third of the book, before it seemed to come to an abrupt halt. At the 168th hour, the entry was what looked like a panicked, angry scrawl:

'Hour 168: MARCO'S GONE!'

…

 _Hekapoo dropped the entry book and looked around the small cave in search for Marco, almost mad enough to start turning over stones in her desperation, though she knew better. She didn't want to accept it, but it was glaringly obvious that Marco wasn't in the cave, and the only place he'd gone was into the frozen hell that was always just beyond the exit._

" _Of all the dumb shit to pull…!" Already taking out her dimensional scissors, she focused on him in her mind before opening a portal to warp to his location instantly. She ended up opening a portal at his side just as he lumbered past, but despite the harsh blowing snow, she knew that he had seen her because their eyes met one another. She stayed from where she was at the portal, only allowing her head and upper torso to stick through. "Hey, human! Where are you going?! Why'd you leave the cave?"_

 _He didn't answer. He either didn't hear, or he was pretending not to. Hekapoo was more than willing to bet that it was the latter, and she felt her annoyance with his behavior well up as she watched him continue to toil through the snow. It was a slow business; his snowshoes were merely improvised roof tilings, his usual tan-looking complexion was still looking sickly, and he didn't move with his usual level of high endurance, not to mention the fact that he still hadn't fully recovered from his hypothermia. He had long passed his body's tolerance for abuse and sickness, and it was taking a severe toll on him. It was like watching a disabled person attempt a task that was well out of their capability, yet wishing to persist anyway out of their sense of (sometimes foolish) pride and independence, and Hekapoo hated watching him go on like this._

" _Oi! Answer me, human!"_

 _Still no answer._

" _Well, aren't we just bright, chipper and suicidal today, am I right?"_

 _The second she mentioned the word 'suicidal', Hekapoo noticed a moment's hesitation in his movements, and eagerly pressed on when she thought she had discovered his weakness. "Is that it?! You wanna die? After all this time, after a full fucking DECADE, you want to DIE?!"_

" _Leave me alone!" he yelled back as best as he could, trying to make his voice carry through the perpetual snowstorm. "Don't you have someone else to make miserable?! Geez, why don't you go buy a fuckin' dog or goldfish or something?!"_

" _What?" By now, he had trudged on too far away from her, and she exited and closed the portal to go after him, taking care to walk in his footsteps. It made sense to her that since he was in this freezer of dimension for such a long time, it made him an expert of knowing where to walk. For the moment, the snow melted instantly under her shoe as if she was like a proverbial hot knife through butter. To her mild startle, she sunk a bit, melting through the snow, before she felt the ground beneath her feet. She didn't know that he was, in fact, walking on shallow snow at the moment, where the rooves of the houses were. She soon reverted her attention to him again, making her way after him quickly. "What do you mean, 'buy a dog or a goldfish'? Of all the stupid irrelevant things to come out of your mouth, you keep breaking your own record!"_

" _I mean to get yourself a damn animal to keep you company!" He yelled back, not turning around. "I… am… not… your… fuckin'... PET!"_

" _Huh?" It was more out of surprise and shock rather than feigned ignorance, and the man turned around and gave her a glare even worse than anything she could manage herself._

" _You think I don't know what you've been doing? Treating me like I'm some dog you found by the roadside? Poking me, checking my temperature and pulse, giving me food on the ground, KICKING ME? God, I was fuckin' desperate, I admit it. But what am I supposed to do next? Wait around for Madam Veterinarian to decide to give me shots?"_

" _No," she protested weakly. "It wasn't like that-"_

" _Just keep your shitty observations to yourself! I don't need a goddamn vet, I only need to pass your damn challenge!"_

" _If that's how you damn well felt, then why haven't you blown out my flame, huh? I'm sure you had plenty of chances."_

" _You didn't give any chances! You kept your guard up, and every time you even come close, you just increase the size of your flame. You expect me to blow out a flamethrower?!"_

 _'That's true,' she thought to herself. In her moment of silence, he stormed away from her and as if she was tugged by an invisible leash that bound them, she followed after him. "But you've got it wrong still. Even if I made it hard for you every time I came to the cave, you would've tried to blow out my flame anyway, or even steal my scissors, 'cause you've been trying your damndest until now. What happened to that guy? Huh? Did he turn into a pussy-?!"_

 _Precisely at that moment, Hekapoo had finally left the shallow snow of the roof and essentially stepped off into the huge amount of snow which had covered the ground far below. For the first time in such a freezing environment, her normally fervent body temperature worked against her, and she sunk through the snow like a hot spear, the snow turning to steam instantly. Marco turned around just in time hear her fading yell as she burned through the snow. He had half-expected her melt through the snow in that fashion, but it wasn't intentional._

 _Though he thought it was a welcome riddance. At least now she'd get to experience at least part of his own sufferings in the frozen desert he'd been stranded in._

 _With hardly a second thought, Marco trudged on again, taking care to walk with a wide center of gravity using the roof tiles tied to the bottom of his feet. However, he heard what sounded like something cataclysmic was building, and he turned around to see a pillar of fire roar out of the hole she sank into. He watched in wonder for a moment, before it died down. Soon after, he heard what sounded like exertions, and he chanced to go back to the hole and lied down at the edge. Far below, he could see Hekapoo attempting to jump up, but failed as the hight of the hole eclipsed her limit by more than a few meters. She couldn't even touch the snow at the sides of the person-sized hole without destabilizing even more of the snow at the top bring it down to cover her completely._

" _Quit messing around, Hekapoo," Marco called unconcernedly down into the hole. "Just your scissors and teleport. Isn't that what you have them for?"_

" _..." She said something that he didn't quite hear, but he still figured out what it was. He even began to laugh at this, mostly out of vindictiveness instead of humor._

" _You lost them?! Can't you just make a portal without them? Oh, wait… if you could, you wouldn't need scissors in the first place. Oh man, that's just fuckin' great! You're caught like an animal in a trap! This is so ironic!"_

 _And to her growing horror, his head disappeared from view from the top of the hole._

…

"Marco left you there?" Jackie asked in disbelief. "I don't believe you."

"He didn't," Hekapoo confirmed. "I just thought that he did. He had good reason too, cause it should stand to reason that I'd be able to get out of a mess like that. To any normal person, I'm fire incarnate. I should've been able to melt the snow in any direction I wanted in order to get to somewhere I could stand on. Hell, even make some clones I could stand on. But it all came down to the depth of that snow drift I'd sunk into."

Jackie raised a questioning eyebrow.

"When I first fell in, I could still jump, but not very far 'cause my legs kept melting through the snow… it's the equivalent of trying to jump out of quicksand for a normal person, so I decided to just melt everything at once with a burst of fire. By the time I did that and reached the actual ground far below, it was too high for even me to actually jump out of. To make matters worse, at that depth… I guess it was just a little bit better than being in space… sure, there was some thin air, but it wasn't enough, not to mention the fact that more snow kept falling down on me and putting out my goddamn flame. It was already hard just to keep it lit when I was still next to Marco, and it was almost impossible to do it in that freezer of a home. And… I was feeling kinda drained after creating the pillar of fire. I had basically dug my own grave, and I was gonna die down there."

"But you're here now, aren't you?"

"Well, duh. I said he never left. In fact, the idiot actually let himself fall into the hole with me. On purpose! He didn't really hurt himself, but I cussed him out for doing it, especially since he caused a lot of snow to fall in on top of me too. I mean, of all the dumb shit he could pull, he literally jumps into an effing grave with me when he knew I would need help getting out. But after chewing him out for a while, I remembered how he had reacted to when I called him 'suicidal'."

…

" _It's been ten years, you know," he said, stamping his feet and rubbing his arms in an effort to try and warm himself by even one degree. "And you don't look even a day older since I last saw you."_

" _Don't you mean that last clone whose flame you blew out six months ago?"_

" _No. I mean you. The original."_

" _But what of it?"_

" _I wanted to go home. I still do. I'm not just homesick. I'm sick and tired of always being sick and tired. I hate having to chase you over the multiverse, and I can tell that you hate having me doing it too. So why the hell are we dragging this out?"_

" _I'm not dragging it out. It only lasts as long as long as you're alive, and haven't given up AND decided that you don't want d-scissors anymore."_

 _Marco shivered violently as he clutched the too-small cloak closer to himself. "...I only meet one of those criteria."_

" _Huh?"_

" _Hekapoo. I'd already given up. I wanted you to send me home ever since I saw you in my cave. I was trying to tell you that, but I think I fell unconscious before I finished." In response to this, her mouth had the distinct 'oh' shape that she had only just understood what had happened. "But instead, all you've done was treat me like I'm nothing b-but an… animal!" He exclaimed in between chattering teeth. "I wanted to go home! I miss my family! I miss my friends! I miss Star! I miss having a good roof over my head, the people I rub shoulders with and who actually CARE about me! Who knows what they're doing… They've grown up. Maybe they've gone to college… raise families. Meanwhile, I'm here trying to chase down a demon who's just lengthening out my torture. Maybe they must've thought that I've died by now…"_

 _After this, Marco petered out in his grief and rambled incoherently. However, somewhere along the line as Hekapoo could only listen to the man reduced to tears, she believed that he could hear his bawls for 'the quest to just be over and done with', and fully grasped that yes, the boy she'd watched grow up had been thoroughly broken, and he couldn't stand anymore._

 _He wanted to die._

 _So much had just been revealed to her. For starters, he'd never called her a 'demon' before, despite knowing her appearance might resemble one, she knew from the minds that she shared with her clones that had they had learned that he found her attractive, unbelievable to her as it were. Secondly, she had no idea that she had only made his plight worse by illtreating him when she first found him in the cave. That went further downhill when she had only kept him around merely for amusement and though her reasons changed over time, she never once tried to hear him out, and he was fully convinced that she just didn't want to give him what he wanted, no matter it was. He wished for scissors, he didn't get it. He wished to go home, he didn't get it. He wished to die, and she wouldn't let him._

 _Despite being called a demon, being the one accused for making his life miserable, she couldn't get angry. She had NO right to._

" _I'm sorry for… um… treating you the way I did," Hekapoo apologized. In shock, Marco looked up at her and strained his ears to listen to her, as she found her admittance almost too great for her to bear. "And the fact of the matter is… I hate you from the bottom of my heart too… at least, I used to. I hated everything about you. Your smug look when you defeat my clones. Your damn superior attitude when you chase after them, ensnare them in your traps. I hated everything… but what I hated the most was the fact that one of the weakest species in the multiverse was running through my quest and my clones as if they were nothing but wet paper. So I stranded you out here on purpose."_

" _You left me in this shitty dimension because you're afraid of LOSING?!" Marco yelled in her face, though she was only a foot away from him, she didn't flinch. "What do you have to lose… a little reputation maybe. I've got my life on the line, and you left me out here to die! I've spent six fucking months battling this endless snow, going out every two hours to chop trees in the few minutes of calm I get, trap what little animals I can eat and skin their furs to make a coat that still hasn't even reached my lower back! I've been fighting off hypothermia every day until now, and if I oversleep by an hour without tending my fire, I'll die in my sleep...and you… and you were scared of LOSING?!" She had the decency to bow her head in shame now, but he missed it, as his head sagged and he said down the side of the hole onto his butt. He was close to unconscious given his earlier exhaustion and tempted to just rest his eyes for a moment. He knew that he was JUST FINE with doing that, but in the silence, he knew that she wanted to say something._

 _So he held out. Waiting._

 _His time was shortening, though, despite his new patience. In his mind, he thought that he couldn't hold out anymore and his eyes were beginning to close as much as he didn't want it to. Just as they did, he felt a weight on his legs. Upon opening his eyes again in surprise, he saw that Hekapoo had straddled his lap with both legs to either side and hugging him tightly. Instantly, he started to feel her contact heat radiate from her and seep into his cold bones, and the fire that burned in her core was shared with him when she pressed her bosom against his to warm his heart. He'd known her heat before, back when he hugged her in the cave, but this time it felt much different… she had seemingly lost a great deal of her fire, but she was far more willing to share what she had left with him. It as if the cold environment had vanished from all around him, and the freezing breath that had filled his lungs came out like steam that didn't hurt him, no doubt it was because of her magical background-… he felt as if he was being embraced by a living fire. They were like this for a while, but lest her actions were misinterpreted because of how shallow they usually were, she leaned forward even more against him and spoke softly into his ear._

" _You want dimensional scissors but I cannot give them to you, not yet. I can't send you home and I refuse to, because I know you can pass my challenge no matter how unfair I've stacked the odds against you. Now please... forgive my selfishness…" she whispered, "but I want you to live."_

…

* * *

" **So how did you get out?" Jackie asked, eager to find out.**

" **Hold on, I'm starting to feel a little parched. Lava Chardonnay?" Hekapoo asked, offering to pour a glass of the volcanic brew, both items that she seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. Jackie politely refused when she saw that the 'wine' looked like something straight out of an active volcano.**

" **No thanks. I'm… underaged."**

" **Mm, okay. More for me, I guess. I'll pick up this story in a little while, 'cause it feels like I've gone over some kinda limit."**


	21. Insurgent & Insurrection

**Vestiges**

" **Are you sure you didn't want some? You've been giving me 'the eye' ever since I started drinking."**

 **Jackie blinked** **, now self-conscious that she had been staring at the woman drinking volcanic alcohol.** **"Nah, I'm taking a pass on the lava. Hard pass." Flipping open the book, a picture fell out from between the center pages. Hekapoo's eyes widened when she realized what it was, and made a wild grab at it before Jackie** **noticed** **the image** **. Being just a little bit quicker than she was, Jackie took it** **up from off of the ground** **and gaped at it in shock. "I thought you said that you DIDN'T take a picture of him naked!"**

 **Trying to play off the situation, Hekapoo averted her eyes as she grinned into the cup she was drinking from. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Now let's wrap up this little story."**

 **(Author's note – This is actually two chapters-… Enjoy)**

 **21\. Insurgent**

 _At some point, Hekapoo had passed out in his lap, and the human could only watch her fire which burned between her horns with some apprehension. Snow constantly fell down from above, and he could feel it coat the top of his head like a cold cap. He had to shake his head every now and again to clear it off. However, in Hekapoo's case, the snow would on her and melt almost as soon as it touched her, but he noticed that the heat reaction was slowing down._

 _After a time, it seemed that the snow would settle on her for a little while before slowly melting, but this was even more apparent for her fire. A decent amount of snow would perhaps fall right into where her flame burned and it would sizzle and sputter out. However, soon, like a_ _trick_ _candle, it would reignite but the automatic process was becoming slower each time it happened._

 _Like he was before, she was close to her limit, but he was more than well enough to actually get up, and get going. To him, it felt wonderful enough to the point that he believed that his hypothermia was obliterated, but it was disconcerting that Hekapoo seemed to actually be suffering from a variation of the very same illness. Perhaps her healthy level of temperature had to be higher than his, and she expended her own body heat in order to raise his own._

 _They needed to get out of that hole._

 _He had only entered the hole for hardly any reason except to see Hekapoo in her final hour. He had long known that he would never make it to the castle that her clone was in, and he'd only left the cave in order to perish without her treating him like a stray animal-... the humiliation was more than he could stand._

 _But now, she wanted to live. She wanted him to LIVE._

 _So what, was he supposed to oblige her? And even if he even wanted to renew his efforts, would he even be successful? To think, his greatest difficulty wasn't a vicious and powerful person, nor was it a ravenous and dangerous creature. Instead, his encounter with death would be at the hands of an illness brought on by low environmental temperatures._

 _Didn't she understand? He'd come here to watch her die firsthand… he wanted her to know, personally, why he hadn't tried to fish her out of the hole. In his mind, there was still another way to get out, and he still had no motivation to leave. He was still angry with her, and since he was already doomed, he was seeking some sort of karmic downfall happen to her as well._

 _And what of that little talk she'd given him? Just so that he rouse himself up and leave? Did she tell him that just so that he'd save her?_

 _She would have to try harder than that-_

 _That was when he felt it. He felt even warmer all of a sudden, almost to the point that he could easily convince hi_ _mself_ _that he was in a summer paradise. However, upon resting her arms as if to pry her off, her arms felt cold to his touch._

 _It was when he realized it. She hadn't just been sharing her body temperature with him-... she had been GIVING all of it to him, even more than what he needed to the point that she was starving her own body of even keeping a necessary amount to keep her alive._

 _If she was doing that… didn't that mean that she didn't care if_ _she herself_ _died, but only if he had a chance of staying warm enough to make to shelter?_

" _Hekapoo?" He called her name softly, trying to wake up the demigoddess. She stirred but was only barely even conscious enough to even listen to him properly. "That's enough. I don't need any more of your body heat. Just keep it to yourself. You know that I'm not taking the quest anymore."_

 _Her sole visible eye blinked slowly as if she was about to lapse off again, and he snapped his fingers in her face. "Hey, are you hearing me? Keep your heat to yourself-"_

 _And she was gone again. It was no use. Either she was stupid for slowly killing herself for a life that did not even_ _matter anymore_ _to_ _its_ _owner, or she w_ _as just_ _too repentant for what she'd done to him. Marco slowly grasped that it was the latter-... he realized that even if he felt that his life didn't matter anymore to him, if even the person who had put him through hell valued it, then he had a duty to live. He had a responsibility to preserve his life._

 _Even hers too._

 _Marco laughed_ _bitterly._ _"I was ready to die… hell, I wanted to see_ _ **you**_ _die. Instead,_ _now you're_ _killing yourself to make sure I live, even if you know that I wouldn't last long when you die." His words were brave, stalwart, but they started to crack… no, HE broke down as he held the demigoddess a little tighter as if to reassure her. "We're going to LIVE." Getting up and standing strong on his feet, he shifted her to his back in a_ _piggyback carry_ _, letting her arms dangle_ _over_ _his shoulders while he supported her by angling his left arm beneath her bum for her to 'sit' on._

 _In his right hand was a small hatchet, and he chopped at the snow close to the base of the hole to let it destabilize just enough to allow a large pile of snow to cover where they stood. Uprooting his legs from where they had been partially buried, he then stood on the now elevated ground with his improvised snowshoes. Repeating the process again of chopping the snow at the sides, he allowed even more of the snow to fall down, before lifting his legs again to stand up again on the once-more elevated ground. He'd now risen by a total of two feet; by sheer height alone, he knew that with his current slow progress, Hekapoo would die before he even reached the top, much less get to shelter._

 _Despite the horrid situation, Marco had a determined smile on his face as he kept on working. Now having established a rhythm, he began to work quickly and more quickly. The tiny fur_ _coat_ _he'd spent six months tryin_ _g to make was_ _now lying under a heap of snow, but a new_ _'coat'_ _rested on his back, always providing heat to stave off the biting cold. Her fiery red hair had come undone from its style, and draped around his shoulders and even over the front of his body. Unbelievable as it was, it helped to further insulate him from the freezing temperature, but the human's smiling visage was his most clear feature as he toiled._

" _It's been ten long years, I know that. So why stop now?"_

 _Though barely conscious, Hekapoo smiled when she heard his words._

…

"So he got back into the swing of things, huh?" Jackie asked rhetorically. "That's good to hear. But wouldn't you still be stuck in that dimension? How'd you get out of it without scissors?"

"Don't rush me, I was getting to that!" Hekapoo snapped.

…

 _With his passenger in tow, Marco walked briskly in the most hazardous places, and outright ran when the snow was packed tightly in others. Soon, he could see that the castle now loomed even closer than ever before. Usually, he would've had to turn back by now because of the distance out-spanning his body's tolerance of the tundra, and Marco would've laughed in glee had the situation been less serious. He didn't, because time was elapsing faster than he could get Hekapoo out of the cold before her body temperature dropped to terminal lows. It stood to reason that she'd 'commanded' her body to give him heat so long as she was in touch-contact with him, but he couldn't just leave her behind or she would still die._

 _It was dependent on how quickly he got to the castle. With this in mind, Marco began to run, running faster than he'd ever done before even when on solid ground, and made it to the castle just a few minutes before Hekapoo would've surely perished from exposure. With the high snow on a level with a castle window, Marco_ _jumped_ _through to enter it and ran into the deeper reaches of the castle in order to find a warm enough place for the demigoddess._

 _Having found such a room in what was actually the living room of the royals that used to reside in the castle, he quickly rested Hekapoo_ _o_ _n the couch. Her skin nearly felt like ice to his touch, and he panicked when he thought that she'd already died, though the assumption was incorrect when he noticed that her chest was moving._

 _She was breathing._

 _Right. So she was alive. Now, what did he have to do to make sure she stayed that way?_

 _As if she had read his mind, she motioned with her hand to beckon him to come closer. Leaning down to listen closely, all she managed to whisper was:_

" _Fire. I need FIRE…"_

 _The_ _n unconsciousness took her again_ _._

 _Checking her again, he realized that she had lapsed_ _again; it dawned on him that it would be for the last time unless she got the help she needed. Worst yet, he had barely_ _any idea what she me_ _ant by desiring fire_ _. Did she mean lava? He knew that she loved to drink the stuff. What was he supposed to do, find a nearby volcano, collect some lava and bring it to her to drink? There was no possible way of that ever happening._

 _Fire? Did she EAT fire? Was he supposed to set her_ _ **on**_ _fire? Already trying to make do on that and hoping that would work, he looked around for something to burn. There was still a large amount of wooden furniture in the room that he could burn, not to mention the rugs and curtains, but he had no decent fire-starter to the items in question, not to mention the fact that every aspect of the castle was frigid to a certain degree, seeing that it had been located within a tundra for years. The flammable materials such as the wood were cold, and the curtains and rugs were too thick to coax a fire with only a flint._

" _Wait, where's the Hekapoo clone? I bet she can start a fire if she wanted," he reasoned. Yelling for her to come help, he wasn't surprised to hear her footsteps in the castle seem to run away and become distant as if she was fleeing from him. Turning back to the original Hekapoo on the couch, he kissed his teeth. "She's just like you. Running away when you hear me coming."_

 _Trying to clear his mind, he took the time to think, all the while the silence being broken by Hekapoo's slow breathing. Finally, his mind passed_ _o_ _n his sweater, the very same that he had on when he came from Earth. At present, he wore the threadbare sweater around his neck like a scarf; he'd kept it for sentimental reasons, even though it couldn't fit him anymore. It was all he had left from Earth… everything else was aged, destroyed and stolen… all he had remaining…_

 _With barely a second thought, he ripped off the sleeves, broke off a nearby chair leg and started to strike his flints to make a fire. Soon, he had a torch, and he began removing everything flammable in the area and piled it around Hekapoo on the couch, almost as if_ _he were making a_ _funeral pyre._

 _Methodically, he lighted the wood around her at the base, blowing on it to ensure that it caught on fire. With it done, he ran through the castle, pulling down curtains, swiping carpets, even beds and tables and books. He returned to the room with them, tossing them all on the fire, braving the smoke and the heat to make sure that the fire was concentrated around her. There was no danger of the stone castle burning down, and with this in mind, he kept fetching more and more stuff to fuel the flames, making sure that the doorways and windows remained open to allow the conflagration to feed on oxygen._

 _Soon, the entire room was nothing but a sea of fire around the demigoddess. Almost all at once, the_ _blaz_ _e seemed to get drawn in towards her, almost as if she was assimilating of it into herself, the sound of it nearly audible. In the space of a few seconds, all of the fire in the room was completely absorbed, until the room was nothing but a mess of hot ashes and blackened bits. It was in this state of affairs that Hekapoo finally reopened her eyes, and the flame between her horns re-ignited._

 _Getting up off the ashes and metal frame that used to be a couch, Hekapoo dusted herself off and left the room, walking past a jaw-dropped Marco with an amused smile on her face._

" _...Wow…" Marco breathed._

" _Quit your gawking. We don't get to leave until you defeat my clone. You know that an automatic portal will form once she's gone, so get to it. Chop-chop."_

 _Marco clamped his mouth shut in embarrassment before walking after Hekapoo_ _, now disbelief at her nonchalant behavior after everything that had just happened-... not that he'd done it for a 'thank you'._ _"Can't you just do that yourself? I'm EXHAUSTED."_

" _There's no rest for the wicked, and the good don't need it."_

" _Oh?_ _" Marco cocked up an eyebrow._ _"And_ _which one am I? Wicked or good?"_

" _Figure it out," Hekapoo smiled. On this note, she urged him once more, and watched him charge off somewhere into the castle. It wasn't too long before Marco was calling for her to come to where he was, and she followed the sound of his voice. Once there, she saw him standing close by to a fiery portal, and he had a self-satisfied and triumphant look on his face, the very same one that she used to hate seeing. "What are you looking so smug about? As of last year, it'd only take you five minutes to blow out a flame, but this time, it took you fifteen. What took you so long?"_

 _Before he could respond, she held up her hand and stopped him. "I'm kidding. Good work… in fact, I told her to make it eve_ _n harder_ _for you. I'm actually surprised you blew out her flame within the hour… It shows how extraordinary you are."_

" _Thanks for the compliment-"_

" _You won't be thanking me for long. Every single remaining clone just got that memo. If you think that it was hard before, it's going to be twice as bad now." Marco frowned at this, but before he could complain, she continued. "Don't get me wrong… I got you into this mess because I didn't want it to get out that a human could easily beat my challenge. But after this, no one can say that this was a fluke, that you passed on luck or any of that bullcrap. I know that you can do it."_

 _Stepping forward to the portal, she held out a hand to it and willed it to change exit locations back to her workshop. Reaching an arm through it, she retrieved a book which she handed to Marco. After opening it and skipping through it, all he discovered were symbols of flames that were crossed out with 'X's. They were more than half of the flames marked out like this, and it took Marco a while before he realized what it was._

" _This is the book I use to track your progress," Hekapoo commented. "You're more than halfway done, so why stop now? Do you still want to quit? I can still send you home from here with this portal."_

 _Marco was silent for a minute as he thought over the situation. He still wanted to go home. He still wanted dimensional scissors. He still wanted to give up._

 _And despite the fact that she just told him that her clones would be making it harder on him, he knew that she wasn't doing it to make him miserable or to get him killed. He considered himself a good judge of character, and he could tell that she had changed for the better. If anything, this was to demonstrate that he was able to pass a trial by the harshest fire._

" _I want to go home," he began, disappointing her, though his expression was light. "But I want dimensional scissors too. I guess I can get them both when I finish the challenge, right?"_

" _Yes?_ _That's a yes_ _?_ _" Hekapoo asked hopefully._

" _It's a yes," the Diaz said with a_ _grin as he gestured to the book_ _. "Can I have this to track my own progress?"_

" _Sure." After thanking her, he hesitated a while with the notebook in hand, but soon flipped to the final page and tapped the last flame icon. She understood perfectly what he meant, and favored him with a wide grin. "Saving me for last, huh? A'right. I'll be waiting, and I look forward to seeing you when that day comes." Once more, she altered the destination of the portal to the next chapter of the challenge, and waved him on to enter it. "But for now, watch out for the army of wolf-bears, and don't spend the nighttime on the ground or they'll eat you alive in your sleep."_

" _Thanks for the advice, Hekapoo." With a noted sluggish stride as if he didn't want to leave, he entered through the portal. Just before he was gone completely, she called him again._

" _Hey, human…" Seeing him frown, Hekapoo rectified herself. "I mean… Marco Diaz…_ _thanks. And take_ _care."_

 _Hearing that, the challenger smiled. For some reason, he knew that she didn't begrudgingly say his name, but out of respect. It sounded perfectly fine, but in a way that he knew she would never speak ill of him._

" _Just Marco is fine," he remarked, giving her 'permission' to be casual with his name. In the same second, he thought that he could be the same. "Bye H-Poo! You're my favorite one!"_

 _Then he was gone._

 _She didn't know at the time that he had christened her with a nickname, and it was already attached to her; he'd use it again and again when they would inevitably meet in the future repeatedly. With a small sigh, she altered the portal yet again to take her to her forge, which she entered and closed on the other side. Resuming her work, she thought of her scissors_ _(the one with the red handles) that were lost_ _in the snows of Dimension X-105. Using her magic and her pyrokinesis, she forged a new pair of scissors with a different design in mind, that of an orange-colored one that she could perhaps fight with. At present, Marco was in Dimension X-104, and it was only a matter of time before he arrived in X-103 where she was. If humans, particularly Marco, were stepping up in advancement, then she needed to up her game too._

 _At last with a new pair, she returned back to the cave where Marco had been originally stranded in, and picked up her entry book before returning with it back to her workshop. Once there, she began to write her final entry. By now writing her own private confessions, the entry book had essentially become a diary, but she liked it better this way._

 _With this written, Hekapoo closed the entry book and went over to her bookcase. While looking for a place for the entry book, she realized that she had no more space for it. Regardless, without a second thought, she took out her favorite contemporary romance novel, instantly incinerated it and then placed the entry book there._

 _There, she kept her new favorite book._

…

"And that's _all_ she wrote," Hekapoo lauded, though the phrase wasn't quite in context. "Now you know why we're both stupid people. I allowed myself to get close to a guy who's going to die and turn to dust for at least centuries… maybe a millennium before my first hair strand starts to even _tint_ to gray, and why that guy would even do the same. Why would he try to keep emotional ties to someone who's virtually immortal, when he's going to age to death when I barely don't. Why do it when I'm also his enemy in the grand scheme of things. But…" Her voice dropped. "Why not? That was just the beginning of how we got closer but damn, if I have to get to the point, I WANT him. Sure, I know all about love. I've been in and out of love before… or at least I _think_ it was love. It just doesn't help matters when you outlive all of your lovers, all the people you cherish. At this point, it's almost as if falling in love is just a way to pass the time. And I'm tired of it."

"Are you saying you don't want to fall in love with Marco because you're basically immortal?" Jackie asked. "Or are you saying that you don't want to be immortal anymore?"

Hekapoo didn't reply. But she didn't have to. Jackie could see the answer all over her face. Hekapoo disliked her own life's longevity because it was keeping her from having the relationship she wanted with Marco.

"How are you even be so sure that you're in love?" Jackie argued. "It's not just being the wife of the guy you think is Mr. Right-"

"Being in love is having the right fantasy," Hekapoo answered shakily. "You don't just dream about the person having their lips on yours. You don't just dream about sharing your bed with them. You don't lie awake at night, fantasizing about their mouth worshipping and trailing all over every nook and cranny of your body. Instead, you fantasize about the little things." Hekapoo drew a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Jackie gave her a moment, as she herself wanted to know what defined the woman's perception of love.

Finally, it came.

"You dream about the little things. You dream about what your first kiss will be like, and hope that you never have a last one. You don't think about which extravagant gifts to give, but instead just giving that person your attention when they need it. Your imagination mish-mashes and tries to figure out what your children will look like. There's a lot of happiness to be had just by holding hands, cherishing the time you have. Even their way of saying your name is different, and you look forward to hearing the next time they say it. That's love."

Jackie, who was now realizing that she had hadn't _quite_ met those defining criteria now felt even more dejected and knew that she had indeed made the right decision when she broke off the relationship she had with Marco. If people felt the way Hekapoo did, then standing aside was the best thing she'd never done. "But you're immortal, almost perfectly immortal. Isn't that what's stopping you from having the relationship you want with Marco?"

"It's not as if there isn't some competition for Marco," Hekapoo mumbled sadly when she thought about Higgs. "But it's the immortality that's the big issue." In her own mind, this was yet still only a part of the whole issue. It was in fact _magic_ that was keeping her from having a relationship with Marco. Magic was fuelling her with immortality, but it wasn't only that-... magic had made her sterile. Being made from magic and involuntarily pulling on the Wellspring's power for it, she was doomed to never have children, something she had always wanted.

With this in mind, finally, the Rook made up her mind and chose her side.

* * *

 **Insurrection**

 **Rook**

"Matters of love aside, do you know why I'm really here, sitting on this busted bench?"

"No, I don't-"

"This is Sienna's bench." Hekapoo interrupted. "But you know her as 'Higgs'. That's her last name, and the name almost everyone knows her as."

"Oh? This is the bench that her family and friends would've sat in at her ceremony?"

"That would be the case, but there was no one in it. She's an orphan, and her peers would've been apart of the ceremony, like the other squires. So basically, Marco's her only friend, and they were hand in hand when it came to that mess a couple days ago. If she's willing to kill knights and such just for Marco's sake, it should give you an idea of how she feels about him, and how far she's willing to go to stay by his side. Imagine her, and who knows WHO ELSE helping Marco, especially if they're like Toffee, who nearly put Mewni through a meat grinder last year."

"I'm guessing that you're giving me a warning not to trust anyone?"

"You're not going to be here to 'not trust anyone'," Hekapoo remarked. "Earlier today, it was as if Marco was going through some sort of self-crisis. He's wanted me to tell all of his former friends and everyone working under the M.H.C. to stay out of his way because he's not going to hold himself responsible for any harm that comes to them, or at least he doesn't want to. I'm guessing that he's gonna raze Mewni, or maybe his cohorts are going to do it. If Mewni burns, I guess it doesn't really matter who lights the fire."

"But why'd he say something like that?" Jackie demanded.

"Are you forgetting the high casualty count from a few days ago?" Hekapoo glared. "He wouldn't have a problem doing it, but maybe his conscience is starting to finally act up, or it's because of something else. You know how everyone has been reacting to what happened to Janna. Whatever energy that was in his sword is still inside her body, and it's responsible for keeping her **dead** when a normal time-rewind would've brought her back to life. Maybe he feels sorry for actually killing someone he knows personally and he's advising that everyone stay out of his way so that he can keep his conscience clean?"

"'Maybe'? You're not sure if he feels sorry?" Jackie murmured.

"I'm damn well sure that I'm not a psychologist," Hekapoo retorted. "But I came here to send you back to Earth."

And so it happened again. She was going to be left out of the matter again. Before Jackie could put up a protest, Hekapoo laid her hand on her shoulder, as if to warn her that she had something grave to say.

"Marco wants you to give Janna's parents his condolences… and he wants you to tell his mother that he's not coming back home."

Jackie's jaw dropped. "What?"

Hekapoo wasn't going to repeat herself. Removing her scissors whilst getting up, she stabbed them into reality and opened a portal. "Imagine that very same girl, Sienna, who was tearing through knights like they were nothing… And a lizard who can regenerate and heal from almost any wound," the demigoddess instructed, "then imagine potentially others just like them, stronger even. The real war hasn't even started yet, and it's obvious that Marco doesn't want you around when the shit hits the fan. From what I can tell, he's prepared to bloody his hands with the death of people in his way, but he knows that he won't be able to re-join society with that kind of guilt riding him. And what's more, he knows that he could die too. So you need to go do as you're told."

"But…" Jackie felt her heart weigh down heavily in her chest. "Doesn't this mean that I failed to stop Marco? That Janna and I failed? That we all failed? None of what we tried was worth anything?" For the first time, her usually chill attitude wasn't enough to fight off her growing depression about the entire situation. No, the depression was always there, but she had done her best to ignore it. She and everyone else had been convinced that they could stop Marco from going down this road-... Now, they had fallen and scattered like autumn leaves. "Am I just supposed to tell a waiting mother that her son isn't coming home? That's a load of bullcrap!"

Regardless, she knew she was going through that portal. She knew that it wasn't her place to stay, even if she wanted to. Her last job, as Marco's friend, would be to tell his mother some unwelcome news. Apparently, there was nothing left for her to do. In the last moment, Jackie turned and looked at Hekapoo in mild curiosity, and voiced her suspicion.

"You mentioned that there would probably be others like Marco and Sienna who would be fighting alongside them. It sounded like you were talking about yourself."

Hekapoo didn't flinch at the accusation.

The portal transported the sole person to their destination, and when Jackie had departed, Hekapoo closed the portal. For a moment, she wondered if she herself should teleport to her next location, but decided to walk instead.

Whether that was a choice from now becoming a part of Marco's dogma or just feeling like stretching her legs, she wasn't sure. As she walked through the castle, Hekapoo started to scratch at a symbol on her neck on that remarkably looked like a small black tattoo of a rook.

She didn't know about it, not yet at least. But if there was one thing was sure, it was that she knew that the true insurrection in Mewni was about to enter its season.

 **King**

The knight tightened his fist before punching Marco once in the jaw, then again on the other side. Marco's eyes were still closed throughout it all, and the knight's annoyance grew.

"Goddamn it!" Losing patience with the situation, he put his gloves back on with the armored plates and nailed Marco again.

Now, Marco snorted once in his sleep as he continued to snore. He was still unharmed, and worst yet, getting punched in the face wasn't even enough to wake him up. It was either that, or he was faking it. He was very unimpressive-looking at present, given how he was essentially crippled in all of his limbs, and could only sit or lie in any position Hekapoo set him in. For now, he 'sat' on his cot with his back leaning against the wall, and was apparently napping.

"How do I get this heretic to wake up?" the knight fumed to the only other man in the room, who was holding the lantern; the only thing keeping the cell from looking like midnight in a mineshaft. "Should we water-board him? Lighting a fire under him didn't even work last time."

"We could kill him and say it was an accident," the second knight remarked carelessly as he continued to stand guard at the doorway. "I wouldn't mind repaying him the way he did to everyone at the ceremony." Trying to think of a few ways of which to do so, the first man realized that he had no means of doing so without being blameless. Failing to punish Marco (he wanted to make sure that Marco's stay in his cell was _very_ uncomfortable), he and the other guard retreated back outside in the corridors, closing the door behind them.

"We can't. It's not possible, and our heads would roll for violating orders. Why the princess wanted to spare his life, I have no idea, not to mention that I've been hearing things about Hekapoo having some history with this brat. Can we really trust the M.H.C.'s judgment if one of them has a soft spot for him? Sure, this kid helped fight Toffee, but Toffee's back, and he was working with the brat to kill so much of us at the blasted knighting ceremony!" Looking down, disappointed that they had so little resilience against the insurgents, the knight continued to say his piece. "You think Toffee was right? That we're just too weak? I mean, look at the elites. I've never even seen Lady Whosits lose a fight before. In fact, she nearly got her throat cut if that Janna girl hadn't distracted Marco. That same guy nearly put Sir Dashing in a coffin with just one punch to the gut, and that fucking Higgs killed Sir Stabby."

"What's your point?"

"Those people are still out there, and god knows who else. They'll be back for Marco if he's really their leader and even if he dies, imagine what they'd do if it became personal. Have you seen the storybooks of Mewni's history when it describes the knights back then? Even if their size and skills were exaggerated, we don't even come close to measuring up to them."

"So what? You're gonna quit because the enemy is formidable? We've got the numbers advantage-"

"Are you fucking blind, man? The lucky ones of us got healed, sure, or Rhombulus froze a few men by accident… I just happened to survive that shitty situation because of Rhombulus's friendly fire. To see them fight…" the knight mumbled slowly. It wasn't like a hundred knights against three. It was like ZERO knights against three. We didn't even stand a decent enough chance; that's how skilled and powerful they were. In fact, the only reason we've caught **this** brat was that he was piss tired, weakened by blood loss and ganged up on by the ENTIRE Magic High Commission. There's a rumor floating around that the insurgents are only interested in getting to their objective, and will fight only the people in their way. If we knights aren't ordered to fight by the Queen, we won't end up being a bloodstain when this is over."

"You think the Queen would order us to lay down arms to these insurgents? We've got them on the run now, don't we? Besides, I damn well took an oath when I became a knight, and I'm gonna keep it 'till I die."

"That's your say? I think the M.H.C. alone should tackle this mess. It's out of our league!" the first man exclaimed.

"So what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what?'"

"T'was not me who said that." The second knight said. Looking back through the view-slot in the door at Marco, they were both surprised to notice that Marco was now awake, but their expressions reflected stress as the only thing visible in the dark of Marco's cell was the blazing green of his eyes.

The teen was the one who had apparently spoken, and he wasn't done yet. "So you want to quit being a knight, huh?" Marco said lamely. "Then I guess we only have to wait and see what the Queen will say in response to the declaration. It's a war against the M.H.C. and their supporters. Everyone who fights with them or in the name of defending the Wellspring… is no friend of mine."

 **Bishop & Knight**

"So we're awake now, are we?" Toffee commented when he noticed the girl's breathing become a little more paced. "It's about time… we're about to move."

"Move?" Sienna asked dumbly as her eyes scanned the room for the nearest potential weapon. Looking around what she thought could pass for a royal bedroom had no such 'weapons' in it. While searching with her eyes, she also came to notice that Marco wasn't in the room and before she could ask, the Septarian informed her that he was the very reason why they were to leave. "Why is _he_ the reason? Does he want us to go somewhere? To get something?" Thinking back to what had happened before she'd passed out just after exiting a portal with Toffee, she looked around the room and sadly realized that the boy she loved was nowhere in sight; did he manage to escape on his own? Was he captured? Killed?

Seeing her dejected look, he shook his head to answer her unspoken worst fears. "No. We're going to go liberate him. He was taken into custody by the M.H.C." After buttoning his shirt, he then began to polish his shoes. "Fortunately, he was not harmed. I have reason to believe that they're keeping him alive because they can't quite understand a particular conundrum. A girl that Marco killed hasn't been returned to life by a magic spell, and she's actually dead **and** alive at the same time; something that is troubling them greatly for some reason. They've been trying to get Marco to undo what _he_ did in order to bring her back to life fully… he's either unable to, or refused to."

"Is that all?" Higgs grumbled. "What with all that happened at the ceremony, you'd think that the M.H.C. would just kill him, and not care if the girl lives or not."

"They would." Toffee began to button up his loose shirt as he continued to dress himself. "But lately, things have been getting… how to put this… weird and wild? It could be because of what happened to the girl." He marched up to the window and threw open the curtains, showing Higgs the vista beyond. She could see the moon, **and the sun** , both in separate corners of the sky… but the sky was _purple_ with thick streaks of green. Even as she watched, she could feel the ground trembling a bit, and it was with alarm that she realized that Marco's suspicions about the apocalypse were, in fact, going to happen sooner rather than later.

"Holy shit!" She tried to get off of the bed she had been lying in. After doing so, she had to rub the soreness out of her limbs and realized that she was no longer injured. She gawked at her belly and saw that the life-threatening wounds she had were completely healed. In fact, there wasn't even a scratch on her, and her clothes were also in a perfect state. "Whoa… did you-?"

"No. It was Eclipsa-… the Queen. She took a risk by using magic to heal your injuries, what with the usage of magic speeding up the apocalypse deadline, though it's a form of magic that is powered by her own life energies. I doubt that she would have done so had Marco had not insisted that we do all we could to preserve your life. Perchance… the boy is very fond of you if he's willing to go against doctrine and allow magic to be used for your benefit. Although I cannot say that we all feel the same way about each other, we're all here to accomplish one thing-… that is, the demolishing of the Wellspring. That said, it's time we left. You want to 'save' him, correct? The longer he waits in custody, the more liabilities we'll have."

"I'm already rearing to go. Say… where's my knife?" Pointing it out to her, she went over to the table where it was and picked it up. She easily noticed that it had been meticulously cleaned, though, in her mind's eye, she could still see the blood of those she had killed with it. She paused for a moment, and Toffee asked her if she regretted anything.

"No. I've learned to block it out."

"Block it? Like keeping your conscience out of your actions? How did you wrangle that? As a matter of fact, something like that shouldn't be possible for one who looks as young as yourself. Even your skill level with your particular fighting style that I observed in the hall is rather commendable."

"I'm actually thirty-three years old. I spent eighteen years in Dimension X-103 chasing Hekapoo for a pair of dimensional scissors. Feeling for her secret holster, she was pleased to find that her own warp tool was still there. "I can't say that I _honestly_ earned this, but I properly learned how to fight. I ran into a warrior for hire who had mastered the usage of every part of his body; he's even sharpened his reflexes so much that I can't even fight him in his sleep. Everything can be controlled by the mind, you know."

"I see, but judging from the way you described him, it would seem that you don't consider yourself as proficient."

"Only got as far as mastering hormone control, and a few other things. So, Toffee…" her voice trailed off. "Marco mentioned taking down Rhombulus as if it was a chess move. He called you a 'Bishop', you called him 'King', and I'm a 'Knight'. Just now, you just called Eclipsa the 'Queen'. Is that what all of this is? An elaborate game of chess?"

"It's symbolic." Toffee said after a moment's hesitation as if he wasn't entirely sure. After putting on his jacket, he opened up the door and motioned for her to follow him. "Shall we go?"

"Go?" She looked through the doorway and recognized the hallways. "We're still in the castle?"

"We never left. We've been hiding in Eclipsa's room under their very noses." Toffee remarked with a chuckle. "They've been ripping Mewni apart looking for us, even looking in caves and under rocks. The irony has been entertaining to watch. Rather strange, if I must admit it."

"Strange? That's not strange. 'Strange' is a Septarian lizard dressed up in a three-piece suit as if he's going to work," Sienna said carelessly.

"My dear…" Toffee picked up an axe that rested on a hook on his way out the door. "This _is_ work."

 **Queen**

Moon sat impatiently while she waited for any new findings to be analyzed. Watching Baby look over a comatose Star in her bed, she broke the dreadful silence that hung over them. "Well, is there anything we can do about Star? She's been like this for two days now."

"It is a coma."

"I _know_ that-"

"Do you _really_ know that?" Baby said in a hinting tone, "It seems as if you're expecting me to say 'wake up' Star, and she'll wake up."

"There's no need to be sarcastic, Baby, I just want to know-" Moon paused, re-thinking the situation. "Right. There's nothing you can _do_. But do you _know_ of any magical spells that could possibly wake her up, or even spells that do other things, with the possibility of waking her up as a side-effect?"

"… Or we could just wait."

Moon growled a little in her throat. Reaching for the wand on Star's bedside table, she picked it up, she herself wondering if she should experiment and try a radical new spell in order to wake Star. The floating magic evaluator stared at Moon for a good minute, before the Queen grew uncomfortable being under her gaze.

"Interesting…" Baby murmured.

"Yes?" she said irritably. "What is it?"

"What are you going to do with that fake wand?"

" **Fake**?!" Moon boggled in alarm as she waved the wand towards Baby. "There is no possible way-" Interrupting her in mid-line, the door opened suddenly and the two occupants turned to see Eclipsa walk in with a small handbag over her shoulder.

"Pardon!" the woman called almost cheerily. "I should've knocked first."

"Eclipsa!" Moon exclaimed in alarm but calmed down almost immediately. Truth be told, she had half-expected some irate noble to come barging in, or even one of Tom's parents. Even as far as worrying that Sienna or Toffee would show up, perhaps, but seeing Eclipsa was especially welcome at this time. She could use someone who shared the same responsibilities as her at one point in her life, not to mention that she had to have a multitude of experience and a decent measure of empathy. Ever since they'd gotten on good speaking terms, she felt like she could rely on Eclipsa for certain things, and this felt like one of those times. "I'm glad that it's you."

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"I was _afraid_ it was someone else."

"Such as? King Pony Head, perhaps?"

Moon rolled her eyes in uneasiness before she allowed herself to relax with ease of conversation. "Or heaven forbid, the Lucitors. They insist on getting Marco's head on a pike, and I'm tempted to do it just to sate them and leave me alone. Marco and his cronies have done wanton mass murder and extensive damage and frankly put, if I were to take a knife to him and give a piece of him to everyone, I'd still be cutting him until now."

Eclipsa took a seat in the chair by the bedside next to her fellow queen. "Then why haven't you?"

"Star wanted him captured. I made an agreement with Star, and if she was willing to take quite a beating just for that outcome to be accomplished, then it only increases my obligation. It's for that very reason why I haven't have had a council as yet for all the parties of the different royals involved, seeing that they claimed to have been trying to do what Star told them. Doesn't stop them from harassing me behind closed doors, though."

"Seems like you're under quite a lot of pressure, Moon," Eclipsa observed.

"I am, and River's in the same boat. He's actually been the one running Mewni's current affairs of late; those are largely my responsibilities, but he isn't doing a bad job of it. Ever since Marco talked to him about being a 'proper' King-" Moon paused, and clenched her fists in anger as she thought of the Diaz. "Marco. He's the one who caused all this. How could he have fallen so far? He's doing nothing but repay us with nothing but bloodshed and pain. I thought that he as a problem was solved when he was banished back to his home, but the fact that he's returned shows that he has nothing but evil intentions!"

"Evil, hmm?" Eclipsa said with a frown. Moon realized her faux pas and hastened to apologize, knowing that her fellow queen was a bit touchy around the word. "Don't worry about it. War isn't anything new to Mewni. Perhaps you could even compare war to the concurrent feud between Mewmans and monsters. As I've said before, war is old news."

"You seem rather comfortable with this," Moon replied with an accusatory tone. "Anyone would think that you're supporting Marco's standpoint-"

"If you say that, then you're saying that I support what he did to Star," Eclipsa stated. "Personally, I think that Star is a wonderful girl, a bit naive at times, but pure and innocent. She didn't deserve what happened to her, and neither did anyone else who lost their lives or loved ones at the ill-fated ceremony. But if one thing is sure, it's that many people are starting to question whether or not they're truly fighting for the 'right' side; there's too much doubt. I mean, have you looked out a window of late, Moon? The sky looks absolutely chaotic, and the all the dimensions are feeling the earthquakes, not just Mewni. A certain boy who preached about the apocalypse is starting to look better all the time, regardless of those he's killed."

"What are you saying? I can't decide if you're secretly supporting his views, or not! It's just a coincidence!"

"Moon?" Eclipsa said severely. "Aren't you _tired_ of being stupid?"

"Excuse me?!"

"Fine. Spell the word evil. Come on. Spell it. Humor me."

After a huff, Moon spelled out the letters. "E-V-I-L. Evil."

"Wrong," Eclipsa lectured. "It's spelled N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y. Necessary. There will always be pompous, self-righteous people who think that they are always right, infallible, and incorrigible. You see the signs of the apocalypse, and dare to deny the truth? And for what? A mere convenience?"

"Is that what you think magic is all about?" Moon retorted in anger as she gestured the wand towards Eclipsa, though alarm bells were ringing in her head. "A mere convenience? It has done nothing but be a tremendous use, powering Mewni, facilitating transportation, medical services, even saving lives!"

"And so we bend the laws of reality to our own gain." Eclipsa's gaze wandered to Baby, who stared back. "Baby? Why is Queen Moon waving that fake wand at me?"

"Fake? You too? The wand isn't fake-"

"It must've been truly heartbreaking," Eclipsa said lowly, as if she was in sore regret of something, "for Star to try to change Marco back to the way he was with a wand that would never work… all because the wand was fake. Not that the spell would've worked anyway. Marco didn't know that the wand was fake either, but that didn't stop him from trying to stop Star with all of his might, even going to great lengths to exercise brutality. The fake wand had two purposes. The wand with a fake to keep Star from foolishly abusing it to buy time to halt the apocalypse. It was also a test to see how dedicated Marco was to fight someone who was really unarmed… and if he's willing to do whatever it takes... why not I?"

Moon's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh my god. You… you're a facilitator in all of this?!"

Reaching into her handbag, Eclipsa withdrew the real butterfly wand, the magical item transforming into her own as she did so. In the end, it fully turned into what looked like an umbrella with a planet and ring crest at the spike, and dark magic imbued through it flashed like ominous lightning. "Using magic is traitorous to our cause, but not if it's fuelled by feeding off of my butterfly energies and life force-... an evil committed against oneself. But as I said, 'evil' and 'necessary' are spelled the same."

"Wait-" Moon tried to get away as she recognized the wand about to emit a powerful spell. Before she could even properly get on the defensive against the person she had trusted, Eclipsa casually opened the umbrella and pointed its face at Moon, a sinister-looking butterfly blazing there.

" _Midnight Shriek."_

* * *

 **Now we know why the wand didn't work for Star. That's my take on the magic that Eclipsa uses. That's how Hekapoo finally chose to join the Black Insurgency-... I was using Jackie in a final role to help H-poo fully realize and come to terms with how she feels about magic and Marco. Now, everyone's getting ready to move to protect the King in check.**

 **As for the romance, it comes as it becomes apparent.**

 **I've been careful as to try to utilize different plot points/holes from the show so that it's easy to follow now, and even in the future if/when Nefcy decides to blow everything out of the water. I mean, she killed so many ships in season two… :(**

 **Ah well, tell me what you thought!**

 **Valete!**


	22. Rezero

**Vestiges**

 **Been in a slump, creatively and inspirationally. Not for this fic specifically, but for fanfiction in general. Ever since my milestone back in May this year, I started to ask THE QUESTION. I stopped asking 'what to write', and started to ask 'why should I write (fanfiction)?'**

 **And then there was Living Twice. I'm dedicated to a fault. It's not an admirable personality trait sometimes-... I've been stuck trying to update it since July so I can move on. Yeah, so I'm back again. Damn, made it to 1 million. Why quit now?**

 **For anyone still out there, I thank you for your patience and continued support. I'll keep on.**

 **22.**

There were sounds of heavy-duty ongoing repairs on and throughout the castle, and Marco could hear it all, even though it was a bit muffled through the stone walls and the heavy door that locked him inside his cell.

It didn't disturb him, however. Other things did.

He couldn't move a muscle below his neck; it would have been the equivalent of a complete crippling, though he could still feel. He could feel the burns he got from the battle a few days ago. He could feel the cuts. He could the slashes in his flesh, and the low-key fractures in his bones. Despite being well-fed (spoon fed, that is) by Hekapoo, he still felt a bit light-headed from his blood loss. He felt all the pains. Though they were healing at a fairly quick rate by his tenant, he still felt them, and he doubted that he would ever stop.

He also felt angry. The same old unquenchable and irrational anger. It was the emotion that had been steering him in his life for more than half a year now, ever since he was banished from Mewni.

Or it was Appendaxuz. He was the one steering him. But he knew that. Marco knew that Appendaxuz was steering him, and if Marco had to be honest with himself, he didn't like this road he was going down. They were well off the rails now.

"I killed Janna," Marco murmured, almost in disbelief, yet still feeling the ghost of her touch from when she pried the blade out of her chest. Probably didn't want to give him the memories (or the satisfaction, who knew how she thought?) of having him do it himself. Rolling his eyes down at his dead hands, he thought he could see her blood still on them, though Hekapoo had long ago washed him clean. He could still sense the nuances of battle spirit he had as he walked away from her fresh corpse, and suddenly regretted not even giving her a second look. He regretted kicking her body from off himself. He regretted slaughtering his friend, one of the few who genuinely cared about him, and kept pushing towards him no matter how hard he pushed back.

She was dead, and he regretted killing her.

Then the emotion passed as if it was screened away from him; he was soon back to 'normal'.

Marco narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Right. "Appendaxuz," he whispered lowly. With a little meditation, his consciousness fled back into the inner reaches of his psyche where Appendaxuz resided. It was there that he found the little man whiling away his time over a chessboard, as usual. It didn't miss his attention that his piece was in a square on the middle of the board, surrounded by pieces that look like the Queen and the members of the Magic High Commission. Elsewhere on the board, he was flanked by pieces that looked like Eclipsa, Toffee, and Higgs, but Marco paid little attention to the fact. At the moment, something was a bit more important that his tenant was charting out the scenarios of what was happening.

"Something you wanted to speak face-to-face about?"

"You know why I'm here."

"I might. But how about you tell me?" Ever the covert one, the 'magic' man wasn't about to let information spill without Marco specifying what he meant first. However, all he did was anger Marco, and the teen stepped forward, almost threateningly.

"How about I _show_ you why?"

"No, no, I get it." Appendaxuz felt an involuntary bead of sweat sprout from nervousness and tried not to let it show. "Yes, I was the one who contrived it. Couldn't allow having you show your soft side, after all."

Marco blinked.

"In fact, it seemed as if it was your only side. I needed someone who was a bit more motivated to do anything without considering the means and anger seemed to be the best course. Anger, if you would realize, has always been labeled as 'bad' emotion. I associate anger with many things that are vital to your crusade. Being a survivalist. Having drive. Dedicating each strike with strength. Having no hesitance when facing your 'friends'. With anger, you would willingly fight. With anger, you push on when people try to hold you back with morals. With anger, you could oppose your so-called 'best friend'."

"Oppose Star?" Even at his innocent question, at the drop of her name from his own mouth, he felt his anger flare up almost uncontrollably. Marco sagged weakly in realization and before he could collapse, Appendaxuz waved his hand and willed a chair to appear. Marco fell back into the easy chair which pulled up to the chess table. "I was wondering…" Marco whispered, so low that Appendaxuz had to strain to hear. "Why I was angry, especially with Star. But it's not so simple, is it? Who is Star?"

"What you are to me, is what Star is to Glossaryck, if he still had half-a-mind, that is. While somewhat inappropriate to describe, I'll put it crudely; she is your exact opposite. She is the other 'King'." Appendaxuz tapped his chin in thought. "Opposites attract, perhaps. Maybe destiny is involved. Or the Universe simply rolled the dice unluckily. Who knows?"

"So… I'm the bad guy? Or is she the evil one? Am I the evil one?" Marco asked hesitantly, though Appendaxuz laughed at the boy's use of labels. "I'm not so sure anymore that-…" His mood did a quick one-eighty and became angry. "Fuck Star, I'm gonna make sure I finish her off this time!" He did a double-take in shock and stared at Appendaxuz, who only shrugged. "How long?!" Marco growled.

"I've been inducing this _better_ side of you ever since you started to work with Lavabo. A bit of an experiment. I tried emotionless, I tried eagerness, I tried encouragement, even apathy, but seeing you rip into the laundry monsters when you were angry to be satisfactory. Well, a little apathy didn't hurt either, not to mention focusing more on your views that Mewni is just another city that needed a revolution of sorts. An angry Marco was the firestarter. An angry Marco could fight the powerful High Commission." Appendaxuz gave his host a deadpan look, completely serious. "A Marco would kneel and bow down to Star. An angry Marco could and would fight Star on equal terms."

"Do you even have any idea of the amount of shit dribbling out of your mouth?" Marco shouted. "I don't know how you did it, but you'd better reverse it or-"

"Or what? Allow the entire Universe to fall apart into the aether, all because you couldn't make a few sacrifices? I've made them all my life. And Marco…" Appendaxuz smiled grimly. "I've lived a _very_ long life."

Marco didn't know what to make of this. The usual option of being angry was available. He was also feeling disappointment for not having seen this happening from sooner.

He also wanted to smash Appendaxuz's face with a brick too. At least he was honest and told him that.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen. You can insist on having the blockade on all your emotions removed, end up failing, and the universe and every single layered multiverse in it gets annihilated, or you can keep the alternative-… keep on going the way you are now." Marco was about to argue, but the entity urged him to think it over carefully.

"This should be a no-brainer-…"

"Good, that means that you're not in danger of making the wrong choice."

Marco looked down his nose at Appendaxuz. "I don't think I like your attitude." Appendaxuz sighed deeply when he heard this, and leaned back in his seat as far back as possible in an effort to relax. For the first time, Marco took notice of how stressed he was and asked him why.

"Well, look at it from my point of view. I've been trying to stop the destruction of the universe for millennia because frankly, I like having somewhere to live." It came out more sarcastic than necessary, and Appendaxuz was laying it on in heaps. "I've been defeated by my brother countless times, the most recent defeat getting me locked up in a book. A book filled with the very thing I'm trying to put an end to. Do you follow?"

The Diaz silently motioned the man to continue, though he could tell where he was going to go with this.

"Now, we're probably ten days or less before everything goes to hell… no, that's not quite the right way to put it… hell is also its own dimension, too. Let's just describe it like this. Close your eyes." After reluctantly obliging the man, Appendaxuz asked Marco for what he 'saw'.

"Black. Darkness."

"Great. You 'see' something. Now, I want you to try to 'see' through the end of your elbow."

Marco's eyes opened in surprise. "I can't do that! That's not possible!"

"Well, that's basically what's going to exist. Not a shade of 'black', or darkness. Just… _nothing_. Maybe not even 'nothing', since that's technically something. But you get the point. Anyway, the only thing that can stop it is a teenage boy. Granted, he has powerful allies and decent skills, but as I'm saying, the only thing that can stop it is a teenage boy. What's stopping him from saving the Universe? Easy. His wants to have all of his emotions free from being blocked, and said emotions will cause him to falter in what should be done."

"When you put it like that…" Marco said hesitantly but still thought of something else. "You're powerful, why can't you fix this mess? Why do you even need me?"

"We've been over this before. I can't do anything to stop any of this while I'm imprisoned in you. I couldn't even contact you until you finally cleared your mind of enough of your teenage dramas with the princess. I'm too weak, especially without a host." Appendaxuz sounded resentful when he said the last, and he looked pointedly at Marco when he said it. "All I could do was give you some of my former powers. Besides, it's not as if I had much of a choice of whose body to jump into when they read the Book of Magic. Mostly princesses who work with Glossaryck, you know. Not to mention I was in the 'forbidden' chapter."

Marco swore to himself, but he ignored the insult in the man's explanation. "So I'm better than nothing. I've got your powers. I gotta save the universe. I'm a whiny brat who wants his 'weaknesses' back."

"True on all points."

"You know, you don't talk like you used to. You-"

"I'm going to die in a matter of hours, maybe minutes. I'm stuck in the body of the person who hopes to save the universe but wants his handicaps back. Said person is under lock and key, being guarded and has been debilitated with magic-… he can't even feed himself without help. So excuse me for sounding like… like you from a few months ago. A whiny brat."

"…Gee, thanks," Marco said sarcastically. Lowering his voice, "prick."

"You're welcome. Now, on the topic of your emotions… why want them back?"

"Are you kidding me?" Marco thought of all he'd gone through in the past half-year alone. "Star's name triggers me. I've turned on my friends from Mewni. I've killed Janna!" Marco felt some semblance of guilt throughout, but it barely registered. "It feels like my emotions are on the other side of a glass wall. I see them, I can almost touch them, but every time I start to come in contact with them when it concerns people with magic, I turn into a raging maniac!"

Appendaxuz was silent for a while as he thought about the boy's request. "I still think it was necessary. I'm a very ugly person, Diaz. But why, you ask? Because I represent fairness. I represent justice. I represent order. I represent stability, equality, and duality. Balance. If someone gets murdered, then the murderer is sentenced to death. Foolishness brings forth foolishness. Wisdom brings forth wisdom. Energy is converted, neither created or destroyed. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That sort of thing. You don't see much of that in recent times, don't you? People suing coffee shops because their coffee is too hot. Murderers getting away with a slap on the wrist. Royalty do whatever they want because of magic."

"I get it."

"No, I don't think you do." Appendaxuz looked down at the board for a moment and pointed at the Marco chess-piece. "You said that you didn't care if you were accused of being evil. I don't think that's true… in fact, you don't want to be the so-called 'bad-guy'. Don't worry about it… you're not."

"What do labels have to do with it?"

"I'm dying, Marco. And what do you think is going to happen when order dies? When _I_ die?" True to his words, the Diaz more closely observed his tenant once more. He did look far weaker than he was before, more wrinkles in his face and breathing harder than what could be considered normal. "Trying to curb the heavy usage of magic since Mewni started abusing it hasn't done me or the universe any favors. While I don't mind being made to be the weaker one when compared to Glossaryck, him damning me the way he did has more than halved my longevity. I am the last pillar helping to hold up the universe along with the Wellspring. When I die, you're going to have even less time getting to the Wellspring, seeing as the source of magic is going to have to work twice as hard trying to keep everything together. Maybe when you step outside, you'll see that it's more than a little weird and wild."

"I knew that you were dying but…" Marco hesitated. "Knowing that you fucked with my emotions…"

"Don't feel that sorry for me? I know. I don't happen to care that much. Soon, I'll die anyway. Probably shouldn't have to care about the universe anymore, seeing that this crusade of yours should have been accomplished months ago. Too late for me, now. It'll soon be too late for the Universe too-… it's going to look like a dropped cake, then it won't exist…"

"I got that," Marco growled in exasperation, as his question still wasn't answered. "But what do LABELS have to do with it?"

"You're worried that you're evil. But you need to know the stakes. I'm helping to keep order in the Universe, but something is sapping my power, more than just the usual. The girl you killed… Janna…" Marco felt a brief pang of sadness before it devolved into the usual anger. He tried to turn it into anger against himself and was only mildly successful. Appendaxuz noticed what the boy was trying to do, and spoke aloud what he thought the boy wanted to say. "You're sorry that you killed her. She wasn't even trying to fight you… she only wanted you to stop fighting, especially your friends. A noble sentiment and you only acted against her in anger. You didn't mean to kill her… it just happened, as you were taking out your anger for Star against her instead."

Marco nodded sadly.

"But the labels in your head, whether or not they're true, they matter to you. You think you're the hero, or at least you used to think you were. Now you're starting to believe when people say that you're evil. I mean, of course you are. You killed so many of the Queen's soldiers, killed Janna and nearly finished off the rest of your friends, brutally even. But the fact of the matter is… Janna's alive."

"She is?" Marco was surprised to hear this. It was hard to believe, considering that he had pierced her heart himself with his sword-…

He tried not to think about it anymore.

"Yes. Undoubtedly, Omnitraxus Prime's ability to turn back time in people must be pulling on even more magic to bring her back to life. Meanwhile, my powers that warrant order, that is, things that _die_ should remain _dead…_ " Appendaxuz said seriously, watching Marco closely to see if he reacted, "is trying to keep her that way. My powers of maintaining order are automatic since I'm not outside of your psyche. I perhaps would try to allow this girl to be saved if I were outside of your mind, but that's not an option. Ominitraxus Prime, whether he's aware of the situation that the universe is in, hasn't stopped the time process, and I doubt he can."

"So if she's alive-…"

"Both alive **and dead** …"

"So if she's alive," Marco repeated hopefully now, finally allowing himself a smile in a long time. "Then I didn't really kill her!"

"Wrong. You DID. Haven't you been listening?" Appendaxuz shouted in one of his rare moments of being extremely fed up with Marco. "Just think! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO INTERVENE!"

"Intervene? Like what? Stop your abilities of order so she can come back to life?" Marco asked hopefully.

"That's an option… if you don't mind having a shorter fuse before the destruction of the Universe. The other option is to finish her off to buy more time." Marco cursed when he heard this. It seemed as if he couldn't catch a break, and nearly caught himself crying.

"So I'm going to have to kill her… _twice_?"

"That's precisely what I mean." Before Marco's eyes, he started to see white cracks around him in the darkness around them, and the light that normally radiated from the stone fixed in Appendaxuz's forhead was getting weaker. He could tell that the little man was about to die, and asked him for his honest opinion. "I don't know what's best for your mental health right now. Thinking that you're evil or not, having a clean conscience or not, being angry or not… it's all your choice."

"I'll make them. But I do have a question… say that you die…"

"I'm about to," the man said emotionlessly.

"Then what happens after I destroy the Wellspring? What happens afterward? Will there be any order in the universe?" To this, Appendaxuz merely laughed a bit, and his teeth started to become serrated, like a shark's. Around them, more cracks formed, and the entity's light dimmed. Even more to the point, the man seemed to lose his form as a solid person and started to look more and more like a creature of nightmares.

"Someone will have to replace me. Enough said." To this, Marco's jaw dropped in horror, but Appendaxuz barely paid him any mind. He bade Marco farewell, and when Marco didn't budge, he urged him again to leave. "Get going, Marco. The Universe is waiting." Without any control on his part, Marco's legs stood up and started to walk away from the chess table, even as the pieces began to catch fire in a black and green flame. Everything around Appendaxuz began to burn as he did, but not once did the man flinch or scream in pain as Marco left him behind, and soon disappeared from his view.

The pain was unimaginable, but not once did Appendaxuz react to it, even as he burned to so much ashes, and then there was nothing at all as darkness remained in Marco's consciousness.

Awake now, now aware that his mind was now only his again, Marco felt hot streaks burning down his cheeks. His vision was clouded, and his eyes stung.

He was crying.

He stayed like that, bawling his eyes out, weeping for all he had done, in the grief of all that he had done and was about to do. There were fates worse than death that awaited him, and an eternity to live with them. His anguish got so bad that Hekapoo eventually had to come in and ask him what was wrong, worried that he was hurt or worse.

"…" A small smile came on his face as he thought about the demigoddess, wondering how she'd interact with his mother, though it fell into a sorrowful frown. He needed someone else who knew his family, someone closer to home. "I need you to tell Jackie something… She needs to pass on a message for me before you send her back to Earth."

"A message?" Hekapoo refrained from scratching her head in confusion. "Alright. What's the message?"

He wasn't going to be able to return home.

 **Once again, a small chapter that actually took place before the preceding one. This is what led to Hekapoo finding Jackie, and so on.**

 **Anyway, about Marco being evil, it's still all about perspective. Sure, he was being manipulated, Appendaxuz admitted that before he died, but Marco accepted his reasons and understands why.**

 **So was Marco really evil or not? Was Appendaxuz really evil or not? Evil methods, true, but it was for a good cause. Wasn't it? He wasn't lying, but damn if Marco didn't take things too far sometimes.**

 **The next chapter should start The Pawn Fights V2. The Magic High Commission versus The Insurgency. But for another note, I'm willing to hear what Marco should do about Janna. I'm comparing notes, and I'm not entirely sure since Marco's fully emotional now. I mean, I have to choose higher stakes and more urgency with the end of the Universe with a cleaner** _ **conscience**_ **, or a truly evil Marco with more time to navigate No Man's Land later on, and said time can be used to develop the shippings of Markapoo and Miggs. Um… more properly. As I said before, it hinges on what happens to Janna, and I'm not sure which road to choose.**

 **Valete!**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	23. Janna

**Vestiges**

 **Did you think that the title of the chapter was a coincidence? As I said before… the whole fic is** _ **planned**_ **, although some things are open for change, like what happens to Janna. Sometimes, that doesn't stop me from seeing a blinking cursor on an empty page like everyone else when writing blocks starts acting up. Anyway, let's see what happens. I hope you enjoy.**

 **23.**

There were sounds of hushed talking outside of the cell. Marco didn't pay much attention to it-… he had his own problems. He couldn't stop himself from crying, couldn't stop himself from being upset at himself for being the 'villain'. He looked down at his hands, and just like the time he'd beaten up the mugger, he couldn't stop seeing the blood all over them. But now, things were different. The mugger was alive. The knights weren't.

All of the knights he killed. The knights that he slaughtered like animals… all of their blood were on _his_ hands. Thinking of Sienna, he felt a chill go up his spine. She was no different than him, but she was killing in his name… killing for _him._ The only thing was, she wasn't being controlled by mad anger caused by Appendaxuz, the person that Marco now believed was actually the god of Order.

Sienna had killed all of the knights, simply because she believed in him and his cause. Now, Marco wasn't so sure. Oh, he could tell that the end of the universe was real; he could sense the chaos just outside the walls of the castle, and the frequent earthquakes reminded him that the Universe was losing its stability. What he couldn't stand, though, was his inner conflict. The only thing that would make his and Sienna's actions forgivable was if the universe was about to be obliterated. But if it wasn't in danger, then it meant that they had committed wanton murder, and were only pawns in a sick and twisted game.

"I can't believe it… I actually prefer having the universe in danger to justify the killing's that I've done… the killings that WE have done," Marco wept to himself. "Oh my God!"

Hearing his own cries disgusted him… him crying out for a god. At least, he was the God of Order in training, and his mentor had died. Who was he supposed to cry to? Who was a 'God' supposed to cry to? Right as he was wondering about Gods, Hekapoo entered his holding cell. She looked like she had something important she wanted to say, but deferred to demanding why his face looked so scuffed up.

"Oh… the guards thought I was sleeping earlier and tried to wake me up," Marco said sheepishly, momentarily forgetting about his inner turmoil. "I guess I'm too durable to really feel it…" His eyes flashed green for an instant. "Or they were too damn weak!" As sudden as it came, his incensed mood swing left. He chuckled nervously, hoping that the demigoddess didn't think he was losing his mind. Well, if she hadn't already thought so, that is, considering all the outlandish things he'd done.

"You feeling all right, Marco? Maybe they knocked what little brains you had too far out of place-"

"No! I'm fine. Really." It was only a small fib, but Hekapoo could easily tell that he was lying, and told him so as she seated herself beside him on his cot. Even more so, she was seated _against_ him, and he found this strange. Hekapoo usually put at least _some_ distance between them ever since this fiasco started.

"Hmm… liar," she hissed gently. For a moment, the woman consciously realized that she was about to flirt with him, but remembered the time and place… then there was how distressed he looked. "I did your favor for you. I sent Jackie back home, and she'll carry your message."

"That's… nice," he said awkwardly, wondering how to phrase his next question. "You're a goddess, right?"

" _Demi_ goddess," she reminded, "and I said before, flattery will get you nowhere." She cocked one leg over another coquettishly and it pleased her to no end when she noticed how he briefly stared for a second before consciously stopping. "But feel free to worship _all you want_ ," Hekapoo purred suggestively in his ear, making his entire face redden. Noticing how fidgety he became, now more conscious of her warmth next to him, Hekapoo cursed herself aloud in her own mind, internally yelling that she needed to curb herself just a little. The demigoddess realized that she had been thinking about this prospective relationship with Marco for quite some time now, 'some time' actually being years, maybe even _decades._ Sure, Sienna had been trying to get scissors to see Marco for eighteen years, but Hekapoo had lived through that instance as well, not fully grasping that she had also wanted him for herself. And what of the time that she and Marco spent together before that, including the period when the Diaz was becoming a man undertaking her quest? And the fact that she normally spent her days in her dimension with a dilated timeline?

She might not have realized her feelings, but it was obvious that her love for Marco had existed far longer than he had even existed.

At long last, Marco got his hormones under control after hearing what was only an innuendo. "Err, not the point, Hekapoo. But do you know of anyone else? Any other Gods or Goddesses?"

"No, I don't know of any… well, except Glossaryck. You know, since he created me and everyone else on the Magic High Commission. We basically run the universe. If there **are** Gods and Goddesses, we're basically them."

"I can't even tell if you're just full of yourself," Marco mumbled. "Have you _seen_ Star in her Butterfly state? She's done a lot of stuff that not even you are capable of. Doesn't that mean that she's higher than you? Wouldn't that mean that she's the goddess, and you're **not**?"

"Or what if she's just juicing herself up more on the magic from the Wellspring?" the demigoddess pointed out, slightly irritated about the difference in power between her and the princess. "You don't really know. Besides, she's a deviant. There hasn't been a user of magic like her in centuries, and her capacity for spells are insane. Every other Butterfly before her hasn't even _conjured_ as much stuff as her, just normal transmutation and manipulation spells." After her explanation, Hekapoo watched Marco carefully for signs for his unnatural anger, but found none. "You seem pretty calm about Star now. You're not mad?"

"No. The thing is…" Marco wondered how to phrase what he needed to say, but didn't know how to. "Just wondering how none of them have tried to stop the universe from ending. I could really use some help from them if they exist-"

"There's a demigoddess I know who wouldn't mind helping," Hekapoo cut in. Marco stared at her knowingly, and Hekapoo merely smiled sheepishly. "I know, I'm a part of the M.H.C., so it means that we're enemies-"

"You want something." Marco stated. "You hardly ever do anything for me without wanting something in return." Before she could protest, the boy went on, not knowing that he was putting his foot in his mouth. "For all I know, you could be setting me up."

"Why do you keep-… I'm not so shallow!" Hekapoo insisted with a roll of her eyes. "It's just getting harder to deny that you were right. It's a shitshow outside… my own set of dimensions aren't even getting their normal amount of time dilation. It's always been sped up to support the length of time it takes people to go through their trials, and for me to make scissors to meet demand. The fact that my dimensions are totaled is just a huge sign that there's not enough magic getting to it."

"So you want to help me just so that you can save your dimensions."

"Not only that," the woman sighed, contemplating how to convince him. They sat together in silence for a while, one stewing in his own thoughts while the other tried to gauge how to persuade her companion that she didn't really have any ulterior motives. "I'm a lot more trustworthy than Toffee, but instead of trusting me, you trust _him_ -!"

"He's been trying to stop the usage of magic. He was trying to cut off the M.H.C. off from it," Marco interrupted with a knowing expression. "I kinda envy him. He's literally a cold-blooded warrior, and he's been doing this long before I have, without caring what anyone thought about him. I know that everyone sees me as a villain, so why would you want to join me? I'm not exactly a saint."

"So that's why you're still here. Because you think that you're a villain now." Hekapoo looked away from Marco, not wanting to meet his eyes. "You probably knew that I closed all of my portals I made in your body more than fifteen minutes ago while I was talking with Jackie… I was trying to help you escape, and then just tell everyone some bullshit excuse later on. I expected you to be gone by now, but you're still here... all because your conscience is bothering you. Of all the time for you to grow a conscience, you chose _now_?" she asked incredulously. "REALLY?" The more she accused, the more he seemed to shrink into himself, and she didn't let up, listing off the boy's deeds on her fingers. "You stabbed the knights, slit their throats, broke their bones, nearly murdered your friends, put Star in a coma, pushed Mewni into a State of Emergency, basically destroyed peaceful relations between at least three kingdoms, and you chose NOW to become a pussy?"

She had hoped to light a fire under him, hoped to nerve him up even if was only anger against her. If there was one thing she had observed in him, it was that he was fuelled by rage, as dumb and cliché as it sounded. But he didn't rise up to her chastisement. It was inexplicable, but Marco had never once raised his hand against her, never even wanted to enter arguments with her, notwithstanding the ones they had before they bonded on her given quest.

But now, there was another reason why he didn't react to her.

His eyes briefly flashed green, before going back to normal. Because of this, it was now for the first time that Hekapoo realized that his eyes were back to his _original_ chocolate-brown color, and tried to get a feel for his aura. This was Marco, through and through. Not sure whether to appreciate the fact that he wasn't being guided by Appendaxuz or not, the woman smiled to herself.

"You're not angry anymore."

"I can control it… on and off. But I've got my conscience-"

"I'm glad," she interrupted, as if she didn't hear him. "I prefer your brown eyes instead." Hekapoo frowned when she grasped how distressed the boy really was, how he was, and why. "But I sincerely believe that the universe is in danger, and I know that you do too. I'm willing to put my beliefs aside, put my siblings aside, put my heritage aside…! I'm supposed to be a demigoddess of magic, but I'm willing to help you destroy what _made_ me in the first place. There aren't any gods out there that are going to save the universe for us, and you don't want to take up your anger that makes you do things you'll regret later. But the universe needs people who'll do anything to save it-… the end justifies the means."

It wasn't a pep talk. It was the truth. Still trying to nerve up himself, Marco got up from off of his cot, wanting to find the conviction to push forward but failed. All he had left was the same righteous anger on standby, and he didn't want to have to resort to that… would he have to keep using that anger all the time, every time he needed to establish order in the universe even after it was safe? He looked back at the blacksmith, struggling to find the words that he needed to say.

"Hekapoo… when the universe is saved… _if_ it's saved… I'm going to have to replace Appendaxuz as the new god of Order. That means that I'll be immortal. And no matter what you say, how you say it or often you say it… _the means are what I'll have to live with_." Never before had he regretted answering Appendaxuz's calls, opening the book of Spells, meeting Star Butterfly, not as much as he did right now. He couldn't change a damn thing about that, and all he had left were the sins he'd committed, and the many more, the thousands, the millions and billions, the infinitemore that he'd need to do to continue to regulate Order for the rest of his life, never allowing himself to die if he wanted the universe to be coordinated properly.

Breaking his train of thought were alarmed shouts raising up, a few just outside his door. There were now sounds of fighting beginning throughout the castle, and echoes of battle cries passing through the walls. Marco's head snapped up in surprise; he hadn't expected any more conflict, not like this. In his current fragile emotional state, he thought that his fellow comrades were once more shedding blood for his sake. They were like him. Toffee, Eclipsa and Sienna. Hekapoo now claimed that she was prepared to follow him down his dark road.

It was with a heavy heart that Marco realized that despite being the King, their leader, the one with the greatest strengths, he was the _weakest_. He always had to use a crutch of always being angry in order to get things done, no matter how bloody the methods were, no matter how evil.

His first of many more sins to come was waiting for him. Unlike how he had acted out of unnatural anger before, now, he was human and he had a conscience.

He had to kill Janna.

He looked back to Hekapoo, and without being prompted, the demigoddess stood up. At his new angle, Marco suddenly took notice of what looked like a tattoo on the woman's neck. Staring just long enough to burn it into memory, he got that it was a representation of a Rook; it was in a stark black against her alabaster complexion. It was strange, but he'd seen stranger things before.

"Say, Hekapoo?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you believe in destiny?"

"If destiny exists, then so do higher beings that cause it to happen," she replied after some thinking. "But they must be retarded if they haven't done anything yet about the current crisis."

A horrible thought came to mind for a brief moment, and Hekapoo saw a panicked look come over his face, before he began to tremble. She comprehended what he was possibly thinking about, and had to rib him in his sides to try to ground him in reality.

"Hey, if gods are causing this mess, then let's get 'em." This in fact had the opposite desired effect on his mood and Hekapoo was about to slap him. Instead of following through properly, all that really happened was her gently laying her hand to rest against his cheek, feeling the subtle shivers that coursed through him. Stroking lightly, she tried to calm him down, and only succeeded after what felt like too long, even though it was only a few minutes. "Don't worry, Marco. It'll work out." She smiled at him, receiving a small one in return. It was one of the few smiles she'd seen since he snapped last year; Hekapoo knew a good thing when she saw it, so she cherished it. She had a feeling that things were going to get darker with lighter times lesser and farther in between, so it only made sense that she did.

It did make her wonder about she could do to make him smile more. But those things could be saved for later. Before that happened, though, her duties to regulating the universe came first… even before her job as the Scissors-forger… and her brothers.

If they tried to stop her… she'd grieve for them after the universe was safe.

 **=X=X=**

After the explosive force of the magic spell had blasted Moon into the wall, leaving her to sag unconscious, Eclipsa turned the wand to Baby, who merely stared impassively back at the fallen Queen as if she wasn't being threatened. After a tense minute, Eclipsa willed the umbrella to close and smiled at the mystical cat. "Hello Baby! How have you been?"

"Oh, you know. The usual." Looking aside, Eclipsa spied a bowl of fruit on Star's bedside table, before taking it and giving it to the cat as a sort of gift.

"How are you _now_?"

"Hmm…" Baby started to eat the fruits out of the bowl, faster than Eclipsa could keep track of."Better."

"…"

"I was the reason you came here, wasn't it?"

"Precisely. I could use a little foresight," Eclipsa said slyly. "About _certain_ things…"

"Oh? Interesting. You wanted to use my oracle powers?" Baby asked rhetorically. "Like asking what? If you're going to die because of what you're doing? If you're doing the right thing? Whether or not you're being manipulated? Or how about if Marco kisses H-"

"Oh, hush up!" Eclipsa exclaimed, before grinning widely. "I just want to know where I can get a snookers bar! I ran out, and the castle doesn't have any more lying around."

Baby stared at the woman with a deadpan look. "You're one of the few people who know that I can answer nearly any question once every decade, and you want to know about where you can get an outdated brand of chocolate?" Seeing Eclipsa actually stop consider this for a bit made Baby slightly relieved. "Alright, now that you've thought about it, what's the question-"

"Where's the _largest_ amount of nearby Snooker bars?"

It was only a tiny improvement, but Baby shrugged. It couldn't really bring itself to care anyway. "The nearest large amount is in the tavern in town. Vending machine. Forty bars inside… the owner prefers corn chips."

"I suppose makes sense," Eclipsa nodded. "I would only sell what I liked too, if I were him."

Baby gazed at the woman, its curiosity now piqued. "But why would you ask me such a farcical question? Have you no interest in current affairs? No interest in _your_ state of affairs, if I have to put it bluntly?"

"There's no use," Eclipsa waved off. "I'll die eventually, that's a given. As for the possibility of being manipulated, everyone had a choice whether to believe Appendaxuz or not. Furthermore, we all had a choice to do what we did, and what we will do. In the meantime, I'll simply live life…" Eclipsa gave the creature a smug smile. "And indulge myself whenever I can. Wouldn't you agree that that's the way to live? If you don't enjoy yourself, what's the point?"

"I understand."

With a nod to the mystical cat, Eclipsa stood up, manipulating the top of her umbrella to form a spike before turning to Star who still lied comatose on her bed. "I know that you can't hear me, darling, but for what it's worth, I'm terribly sorry. We can't risk having you use magic should you wake up before we've succeeded; your Butterfly state poses too much of a liability. I myself…" Eclipsa hesitated for a moment as she positioned the spike over the girl's heart, doubting herself that she'd actually be able to kill the vulnerable girl. "I myself wish that I never left the imprisonment of the crystal." With that said, she drove it down, but to her surprise, the shaft slid off the girl as if there was some sort of invisible armor around her. Again, with less hesitance, she drove the spike down again, with the same failure occurring. She conjured up a plain knife and tried yet again, but nothing worked. "That's unusual."

"Must be a passive ability," Baby observed. She had silently watched as the fallen queen tried to murder the princess and that's all she did. It wasn't as if it was the first time they had seen this happen; she wasn't meant to be anything else besides tutoring magic to princesses when they came of age. "But was it always in effect? And if so, then how was Marco able to harm her?"

"It would impossible… and _ironic_ if only Marco is able to hurt and kill her," Eclipsa agreed. "If so, then there's no time to waste. I'll need to fetch Marco and have him do instead. Better sooner than later." The Queen would have rather be the one to bear the burden of killing the girl instead of Marco being the one to do so, but perhaps things were better this way after all… since Marco appeared to lack a conscience anyway.

Without even another word, Eclipsa hurried out the door to find the King, not even realizing that forgotten about Moon, who was slowly regaining consciousness.

 **=X=X=**

Marco looked back at Hekapoo who was still fighting at his side. "You all right?"

"I'm fine."

After another minute of fighting, he asked again. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Marco." She parried a knight's sword with her split-scissors, and kicked him away with a yell of effort. Meanwhile, Marco grabbed a knight's sword with his bare hands, and thrusted his fingers into the man's eyes. As the knight bawled, Marco thrust-kicked him in the belly and sent him flying into a group of his cohorts that sent them sprawling. For a moment, he thought of his missing sword and how much more effective he would be with it. Then his conscience pricked him again as he recalled how many people he had killed when while wielding it. Now, though, he kept holding back his supernatural strength, he kept pulling his punches, and the knights he was fighting kept getting back up. Reinforcements continued to back up those he fought, and to him, their numbers kept doubling.

And he had Hekapoo to think about. She was already forced to create clones to help hold off the oppressive men in armor, and they yelled obscenities at her in particular for betraying them to help their enemy.

She was far more willing to fight harder than him. But while he was more durable and resistant to damage, she was vulnerable. A single sword strike could kill her, he thought, and swords were all he were seeing now.

"You sure that you're all right?" he asked hastily.

"I'm al-fucking-right!" Hekapoo yelled, fed up with his annoying question. God, she loved how concerned and sweet he was and all that jazz, but he needed to get a grip, honestly. "If you're that concerned, could you actually make them stay down?! Stop playing with them!"

"I'm not playing, I'm fighting them-"

"Hit them _harder_ , Marco!" she shouted, as if it was a simple solution. It was, but Marco was conscious of the fact that he was strong enough to possibly kill some of these knights with a well aimed punch, had they not been so heavily armored. If he had his sword, he could confidently invoke his title of being King and get rid of them…

Maybe he didn't need his violent side. If he could think like this when he was 'normal', then he was possibly naturally violent. Either that, or Appendaxuz's mental conditioning worked too well.

That was when a knight slashed at Hekapoo too close for her comfort, not heeding whether she was a reputed demigoddess or not. From the arc alone as well as his follow up thrust, the blacksmith could tell that he wasn't a mere grunt like everyone else. She immeadiately backed up a few steps to put some distance between them while creating clones that would fight him in her stead. She had created five clones, but they might as well have been made out of cardboard due to how long they lasted. And then there were the other knights to think about. They were practically fighting walls of steel in the corridor.

Oh, she had the urge to just use her dimensional scissors the way they were made to be used. She wouldn't even be having this fight right now. The knights would be running around like headless chickens in one of her dangerous dimensions, (like the dead-winter one), wondering about when and how they fucked up.

Hekapoo couldn't, though. It went without saying that she was anti-magic right now and although creating clones was basically done so _with_ magic, she guessed that ripping open portals that defied every single logic about space was far more serious that creating a few clones. Marco wouldn't pester her if she was only defending herself, right? Maybe she should create a portal after all.

"You're mine, you backstabbing bitch!" the knight bellowed. As he flanked to her sides while his fellows destroyed her clones, he lunged his sword, confident that she wouldn't be able to defend it with her scissors. There was little room to outmaneuver him, and before he could stab her, she reflexively opened up a portal in front of her. The back part of the portal being the side that faced the knight like a screen, his sword slid off of it like a metal shield. "SHE-DEVIL!" the man cursed. Hearing one of her trigger words that reminded the demi-goddess of how much she looked like the opposite, Hekapoo screamed in her mind before creating a dozen clones at her sides, all of which surrounded the knight and started to kick the man and bludgeon the man with the handle-ends of their scissors.

They actually stopped just short of killing him, and to the rest that still thronged in the corridor, Hekapoo was still livid. In one of the few times that the bang covering her eye didn't hide it, both her eyes were alive with an orange fire, and Hekapoo angrily mumbled a fire spell which made her scissors light up in a glowing orange. Thrusting the scissors before her, a spiraling fire blazed out, big enough to cover the corridor like a fiery tidal wave. The knights at the front were almost instantly flash-cooked inside their armors, and so did most of the rest. The ones at the back managed to escape with only third-degree burns by running away to adjoining corridors at the intersections before the fire caught up to them, and didn't come back to finish the fight.

The fire lingered for another fifteen seconds or so before finally burning out; as it did, a small quake rumbled through the earth, making Marco grab Hekapoo by the shoulder. "What the hell was that? Did you just flip out and use magic just because he insulted you?"

She slapped his hand away; though her eyes had returned to normal (with her right one covered), she still managed to give him a cold glare of her own. "You could say that it sounds just like someone you know," she hinted, knowing that she was talking about Marco himself, "but it wasn't just _that_. Maybe if you didn't hold back, I wouldn't have had to use magic! We were stuck on the defensive, and what if Omnitraxus were to come and find us like this? We would've gotten wiped out like a chalk drawing! You need to get your shit together!"

Marco looked away, not able to stare her down when he knew that she was right. But in looking away from her gaze, all he could see were the charred bodies of the knights, almost all of their bodies scorched black, that being the ones in chain mail. Most of the others in full metal armor were also blackened, but with soot. The putrid smell of the burnt corpses was slowly-but-surely filling the air and with nothing more to say and not wanting to stand the sights and smells any longer, started to away to approach the large double doors that Hekapoo had been leading him to. As if it was some mysterious force still mocking him, it was past all the knights that Hekapoo had just killed.

Being in the lead, it was just as well that she didn't see the grimace on his face. Not wanting to appear squeamish, he simply held his breath as he navigated his way around the bodies while squinting his eyes to avoid looking at the bodies in all of their stark details. This didn't last long, as he crunched a blackened hand beneath his shoe, the owner was one of the more unfortunate chain-mail knights who took the full brunt of the blast. Marco paused to look down, and his eyes widened when he saw what was on the hand.

It was an _engagement_ ring.

Right then and there, he couldn't hold his breath anymore. The smell of the bodies returned in full force, only this time, it clogged up in his nostrils, backed up with the internal tears that they had not killed faceless men, killing normal grunts with helmets and masks for indentities. They had not only killed men-… they had killed _people_ …- people who had loved ones, people with families, people who had dreams and motivations, fighting for what they believed in.

Not being able to take it anymore, not caring if he was humiliating himself, Marco ran to get away from the scene. Hekapoo could only watch as her significant other fled to get to the door, knowing why he did. She didn't try to look away from the scene-… she was well accustomed to how a body smelt when it was burnt, and how it looked after making one when using her powers. It had been more than a human century since she had to do so, but never against people she had once called her allies.

"We're not allies anymore," she muttered heatedly, trying to take her mind off of it.

Still in his emotional fit, Marco got to the door and broke off the doorknob in his haste to get it open. On the other side, there wasn't a much better view. By the time Hekapoo caught up to him, she found her significant other staring at the girl whom he supposedly killed, standing in the middle of the room staring back at him.

Standing was a bit of a stretch; she was actually levitating, but the tips of her shoes (at the toes) were grazing the ground, as if the girl was trying to get back down to stand properly on the ground, fighting against the supernatural buoyancy that held her adrift. The bizarreness didn't stop there, either. Both the girl's eyes glowed brightly, one in a bright purple and the other in a vibrant green. Janna had a general purple aura around her as well, but the stab wound that Marco had dealt in her chest hadn't healed, and a green light shone from it. The light was even more pronounced from the wound that had claimed her life due to all the old blood that stained her cloths. At the very least, she hadn't rotted like dead people would, but the last thing that Marco expected was to see the girl greet him with a smile on her face.

"Janna?" Marco called unsurely. The smile that was on her face, only unsettling him the more he looked at it... it was the kind of smile she had whenever she teased him or thieved his stuff. "Can you hear me?"

She didn't reply, at least, not vocally. He thought that maybe he was only imagining that the smile on her face was starting to grow a bit, chalking it up as just his nerves. Maybe she really was dead after all. Averting his eyes, he scrutinized the room they were in, suddenly realizing that it looked like a sitting room of sorts, with an armchair here, a small bookcase there. Was all of this meant to somehow make Janna more 'comfortable' as she came back to life? Or was someone watching her, since the chair was facing towards her? He asked Hekapoo about it, but she only shrugged.

"I find a floating corpse waaay to creepy for my taste. This is only the second time I've been in here, the first time was when me and Omnitraxus put her in here. He mentioned something about Glossaryck, but I didn't pay attention. I had my mind on other stuff." She didn't specify what this 'other stuff' was, but Marco had a fairly good idea. He made a silent note to thank her in the future for taking care of him while he was imprisoned, but now just wasn't appropriate. Especially with the levitating dead body of his friend just a few feet away.

Still trying to get a feel from the room, he took notice of something shiny sitting on the table next to the chair, and looking more closely, saw that it was his sword. "… The hell? Why's this here?" He picked it up, feeling the cool handle in his hands. From there, all pleasantries ended, as the blade of the sword was heavily stained with the blood of those he had killed only a few days ago, with multiple jagged portions and cracks to show how heavily the sword had been misused. It was exactly as he left it, and he didn't question why the sword was there. He knew exactly what had been happening.

"Glossaryck's been in here, watching Janna and trying to figure out how and what I've been doing with the sword," he reasoned out loud, mostly for his companion's sake. Although it was convenient that he had his weapon in hand again, it felt heavier.

His guilt was all over it, every transgression adding thousands of kilos. He might as well have been holding up the castle itself.

The Diaz went back over to Janna again, and his heart dropped in his stomach. Before him was his friend, dead or not, and he still had the option of saving her life. The magical aura around her was powerful enough to save her, he could sense it! In the same breath, so was his own Order that lied inside of the girl's heart.

Janna continued to stare at him with her glowing purple and green eyes, waiting to see what he would do. A slight tremor in the earth acted up again as if to urge Marco to hurry and make up his mind. With hesitance, he angled the sword carefully until the point hovered above the girl's injury, and pushed it in. It was so agonizingly slow that it would have been torture if the person was alive. Marco screamed to himself that Janna was not alive, she was not alive, she was not alive-

He stopped. His sword had been here before, and he had stopped it just short of piercing her heart for the second time. It was the true point of no return, and he still had yet to make up his mind what he had to do. He could either remove the Order out of her body via the sword, or channel more into her body to overwhelm the magic that was still trying to bring her fully back to life.

" _Why did you stop…?"_ Marco's jaw dropped in shock when he heard Janna's voice speak directly into his ear, and looked to where it'd come from. There was nothing there, and looking back up to her face, her mouth, though still smiling, was still closed. _"Why'd you stop, Marco?_ _You already left a hole there before."_

 _Her mouth did not open, and she was speaking into his ears…?!_

Marco gasped and released the sword, backpedaling away from her. "Holy shit, you were alive! Are you haunting me?!" He could hear her laughter, but it always sounded as if she was speaking directly into his ear, no matter which way his head turned as if he could find her by looking around. Meanwhile, the smile was STILL on her face while the sword was still sticking out of her chest, and if he wasn't terrified before, he was now.

" _You already made your mind to kill me when you sent that message to Jackie,"_ she said softly, _"so how come you're hesitating now, huh?"_

"If you're really alive, then…"

" _In the fifth grade, a girl got her first crush, but didn't have the courage to ask him to come over to her house so they could play,"_ Janna said, still speaking into his ear, _"So she told her mother about it. The mother said that she should take something that belonged to him, bring it home, then tell the boy that she found something of his and that he should come over for it. She just used that excuse too many times, and it became a habit. It wasn't too long before the boy suspected her of being a petty thief, but she still didn't stop. She eventually got over her crush, but at least she had a friend. A really good friend."_

Marco started to cry.

"… _Didn't she have a friend?"_

"I _was_ your friend!" the boy bawled, not even able to form his words around the cringes his mouth were making. "But I killed you! You only wanted me to stop doing what I was doing!" He couldn't help himself, couldn't stop crying even as the snot began to dribble from his nose. "I _killed_ YOU!"

" _And I know that you're such a crybaby, and you'll always be sorry about it. But things are getting crazy, and I've seen what's happening on earth..."_ Janna paused, as if she was remembering something horrible. _"Get up."_ She meant it as an order, and he obeyed. _"Put your hands on the sword, and push it in."_

Marco hesitated. "But you'll die if I don't pull back on my Order-"

" _Do it."_

With a grimace, Marco started to stab the sword forward, trying to ignore the sounds it made as it reentered her heart, and exited out through her back. "Oh, right. You want me to pull back the Order that made you be like this! You want me to save you-"

" _I think I remember what you said. So repeat it after me,"_ Janna interrupted. _"Quod… Inquit… Rex…"_

" **Quod Inquit Rex** ," Marco intoned. He relaxed himself as he prepared himself to command that his aura return to him so that she could live. He was waiting for her cue, but no response came. He looked up at her still-smiling face, hoping to hear her voice again, but he didn't.

Then it came crashing down again. He knew why she didn't speak again. Janna had always hated goodbyes. She still didn't speak; it was still his choice to make. At the last, he allowed himself to go numb as his green aura began to cover him and his sword, wishing that the universe was really in trouble.

"That saith the King," he said normally, before repeating his clincher. " **Quod Inquit Rex… DIE.** " Again, his aura surged inside the girl, the now copius amount of it is overwhelming the magic sustaining her. The purple glow in her left eye washed out and became green like the other, and both shone before their light died down. As he pulled out the sword and let it drop to the ground, the levitation holding up Janna's body lost effect, and Marco caught her before she fell to the floor. Her face wasn't smiling anymore.

All he shed now was a single tear, vainly promising himself that it would be the last one. If he was going to become the god of Order, he had better start getting used to death, even the death of his friends, his loved ones, his family.

He had better start getting used to being Death.

* * *

 **Oh, damn! :(**

 **If you liked it, let me know. If you didn't, let me know and tell me how I can patch and improve.**

 **And if you're one of the many that didn't know, I recently started up a small Miggs fanfiction titled 'STLTH 100'. It's not one of my customary long-shot fics, so feel free to swing by if you have a few extra minutes. It could use some love. Shouldn't be hard for you to find even by browsing, cuz I'm posting a new chapter for it at the same time as updating this one.**

 **Take care.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	24. Queen Star

**Vestiges**

 **Death. No one is good. No one is bad. No one is blameless.**

 **24.**

"You're quite talented," Toffee complimented.

The Knight and the Bishop were seasoned killers. There was no doubt about it. While one was an immortal Septarian born for war, the other was a woman trapped in a girl's body, having learned different aspects of the art of killing. One would wage a war and win from attrition, the other could fight and win from the bleakest of situations by skill.

They made for an unusual pair, but they worked well together.

Higgs gave their partnership that much. Their relationship, on the other hand… she took it with a grain of salt. A fucking huge grain of salt.

She didn't reply to his compliment, not wanting to make small talk with the most dubious addition to their little group. The heat of battle was another thing, and she wanted to keep her wits about her. The lizard could afford to talk… but it wasn't as if she could grow back an arm or two.

Finally, the knights they were fighting thinned out; Toffee didn't kill the last one, instead settling for breaking the knight's arms after knocking his weapon out of his hands. Leaving him leaning against the wall to grunt and shout curses after them, the two continued to make their way through the castle that now seemed to be devoid of anyone else in its hallways.

"So… about you being alive…" Sienna mumbled, seeing that it was now safe to talk, "what's up with that? Marco told me that Star nearly killed you, and Ludo finished you off." She didn't speak very firmly, not wanting to risk offending him. To her astonishment, though, he laughed.

"Death of the body doesn't mean that my mind does… it doesn't mean that my soul dies either. Eclipsa was gracious enough to rebuild my body, although the new blood in my veins gives me constant pain. Regardless, who you're looking at is the very _first_ Septarian."

Sienna paused and gaped at the lizard. "The… _what_? Books say that your kind is over a thousand years old, plaguing lands before multiplying into an army that wanted to go to war with Mewni-"

"Oh yes, but I was the first. I was cursed by Glossaryck with advanced regeneration and immortality just for the laughs... probably wanted to see how a mortal would react to it. Everyone after me got a vestige of that, though it paled in comparison to mine. Perhaps even I could outlive the destruction of the universe… but I'd only be a mind, then, devoid of a physical body."

"Then why are you helping us?" Her skepticism had grown even larger, but so had her curiosity.

"Because I want to die." Toffee said carelessly whilst gazing at his bloody axe as if to avoid looking Sienna in the eyes, knowing that she was probably thinking that he was lying. Perhaps she was thinking that he was just batshit suicidal and could risk getting her killed, and who knew what else. "Girl, I am tired. But my deal with Appendaxuz is that after I've lent my assistance, he'd be able to kill me."

"Let's just pretend that I believe you," Higgs said after a while of careful thinking, "How can the guy in Marco's head kill you when this immortality shit can't allow your mind and soul to die even if your body does?"

"One of his many duties," Toffee explained patiently, "is being Death. Do you need an even more simplified explanation?"

"… Nope."

The mood got tense between them, none willing to reinitiate conversation around such a sensitive subject. The uncomfortable silence was unbearable, almost enough to make her wish she was fighting again. As if on cue, she started to hear the clanging of metal as there were a group of knights in motion close by, and instantly went on the alert. Subconsciously, the girl started to walk in a sneak in an effort to be cautious and hopefully catch her enemies off guard, but Toffee continued to walk normally, his pace outmatching hers. "We don't have any time for you to be overly careful."

"Some of us can still bleed and die," came her sarcastic reply, "unlike some people who can't _die_ , even if they get fucking _killed_! How does _that_ make any sense?! How can you get killed and not _die?_ "

"You're a frog in a well… you don't know how big the universe is," Toffee said quietly. They finally made around the corner, only to see Hekapoo knocking out the last of what looked like a half-dozen knights. There were three Hekapoos, in fact, who looked like they had just fought, but two of them faded away as soon as the conflict ended. The third one looked up and locked eyes with Higgs and Toffee before disappearing as well, making the girl scratch her head in confusion.

"The fuck was that all about?" Sienna mumbled. "She fought these knights? But why? Is she on our side now?"

"She probably knows that we're in the castle and killing the knights," Toffee reasoned out loud for his partner's benefit, "so she's either knocking them out for their own benefit so we don't have a reason to slaughter them or for some other motive. If she was on our side, then she could free Marco herself. We've been doing this the hard way to avoid having to use your scissors… but perhaps we've become redundant." He pointed at the open doorway which was the entryway to Marco's cell and approached it to look inside. "He's not in his cell. He's most likely with the Hekapoo… and they could be long gone while her clones kept these knights busy."

"And where would THEY be?" Her question was irritating to the Septarian, who tried not to let it show how peeved he was. Toffee knew that he wasn't the most trustworthy character given his blackened history with Mewni, but this girl was only tolerating him only because Marco 'trusted' him. It only further showed how dedicated the girl was to him if it wasn't obvious enough, but did she expect him to have all the damn answers and have to break his back just because he was the black sheep of the group?

"I suppose that he would be trying to finish off the girl, the one who I told you about earlier. He's either there already, or on his way." Seeing her about to repeat her earlier question, the lizard held up his hand to signal her to keep quiet, suddenly hearing a newcomer approaching. He turned around to see Rhombulus approaching as if to investigate, and pushed Sienna into the room where Marco was originally imprisoned in. Toffee himself entered the room afterward and held a finger up to his lips as he closed the door quietly so that they could hide.

"We can take on anyone!" Sienna hissed in a whisper to Toffee as he looked out through the tiny window in the door, trying to see who was coming. "We can both fight, and besides, you're immortal! What spooked you…?"

Toffee ducked down from the window before he was spotted. "It's Rhombulus," he whispered back, "and River and Moon. I can hear Moon yelling about Eclipsa betraying them. They must be coming here to see if Marco's still locked up in here, or if he's escaped. Of course, we could fight them head on, or we could do the sensible thing…" Toffee gently placed his axe on the ground to avoid making a noise and rolled up his sleeves. "We could strike when they least expect it. Rhombulus can't fight very well at close range, Moon looks like she has a head injury and River is a barbarian. Attacking them unawares is our best course of action."

'Assassination, huh?' Sienna mentally calmed herself to become more limber. Nodding to Toffee, she saw him glare at her in answer, and she got the silent message. 'Right, you don't like me either. You're using this little opportunity to test me to see if I have what it takes. I ain't weak, you scaly piece of shit. But still…' She could perform assassinations easily from her time on Hekapoo's trial to earn money… this wouldn't be her first time. Regardless, whenever she had time to think about killing, she tended to get muddled up, asking herself if the person she was killing deserved it. Already, she was thinking of why she should kill them… the King was no threat as far as magic was concerned, right? But what about the Queen? Higgs could easily recall how the woman had tried to knight her… it'd taken every ounce of control she had to not cut open her jugular right then and there. Not to mention being an intensive magic user, she had to go.

But if she had to be really honest with herself, she had often before entertained fantasies of killing the King and Queen to see if things and times would get better because of it. Higgs had long hated the monarchy; she had her reasons. Them being Marco's enemy made them that much easier to despise and to dispose of.

Higgs shook her head hard to clear her mind. 'Just act, and react if necessary.' Subconsciously willing her adrenaline to flow into her bloodstream, everything seemed to slow down as Toffee waited just long enough to see that the window of the cell door to darken, meaning that their targets were just in front of it, one of them probably looking inside. Already, they were reacting out loud about the fallen knights, and Toffee grinned maniacally. As soon as it sounded like one of them had grabbed the door handle to open it, he kicked off the door at the hinges; it flew off and struck down the M.H.C. member and the King, taking both by surprise. Almost as soon as it struck them and left them dazed, Sienna came rushing out of the room with Toffee, her in a blur of orange and blue and a wicked glint of her blade.

Both the girl and her weapon were equally dangerous; the girl was immediately in front of the Queen, having marked the woman as priority number one. Moon saw her-… her eyes widened in shock when she saw the knife in the girl's hand lunging for her chest, far too close to dodge. Still under the effects of a concussion she got from Eclipsa earlier, Moon clumsily entered a fighting posture while blasting magic out of her hands to defend herself and hit nothing. Instead, the knife had stabbed clean through her upper arm and before she could even react to the pain of it, not to mention the sight of Toffee grinning as he slaughtered Rhombulus next to her, the knife was yanked out and Moon was stabbed again.

It was in her chest this time.

It was the most horrible feeling she'd ever experienced, far worse than her near-death at Toffee's hands only a few days prior. As Moon collapsed to her knees, staring into the cold face of Higgs with an expression of shock and pain, Higgs savagely twisted the knife around in the queen's chest to worsen the wound before pulling it out to go attack the King, who had finally gotten his bearings after being taken by surprise.

Short in stature and higher in age, but no less formidable. Be it whatever brand of luck that told him to keep himself armed in these troubled times, he gave silent thanks as he drew his broadsword from its scabbard, and raised it to fend off the girl before she got too close to slit his throat. Not taking his eyes off of Higgs as she fell into her stance just outside of his sword's reach, River was about to yell to Moon to ask her if she was still able to fight, not having realized that his wife had been stabbed in her vitals. "Moon?"

Still no answer.

His face fell. Instead of sounding like the king he was, he sounded like a whimpering child. "… Moon?"

Still no answer.

Tears welled up in the man's eyes as he began to weep, "… Moon…?"

Seeing the man about to cry, Higgs urged herself to act. Running towards the man with the intent to kill, she raised her bloodied knife to execute him where he stood. Only a few feet away from doing so, River came alive with an anguished yell as he swung his sword at her. Sienna skidded to a halt before jumping back to avoid his wild attack and continued to back away to give herself some distance. Just as she was about to approach him again, she was forced to stop when his broadsword nearly came close enough to chop her in two pieces.

At the moment, she realized that her choice weapon was woefully inadequate in pitched combat. From the first day she learned how to defend herself, sought out mercenary training and got mentored into conditioning her body, she realized that she was never meant to fight prolonged battles. Being agile and always the person to attack a weakness or taking people unawares, she fought with her knife that she habitually sharpened.

That knife had might as well have been a stick given how useful it was against a broadsword. Or an emotional barbarian. The man was bawling his eyes out, and she still couldn't approach him.

And what about Toffee? Sienna knew that he wasn't going to be of any help. She could tell from the start that he was just using this situation to see how useful she was in a tight spot. No doubt about it, having Marco yell at him to save her life by any means necessary must have rubbed him the wrong way, even when Toffee had been the one holding off the heavy hitters of the M.H.C. all by himself. She wasn't being the most useful person on their little ragtag team right now, especially since Hekapoo (the wildcard) was now in the mix.

Thinking it through a bit, she realized that she still had another ace up her sleeve, that being her scissors were still in its holster, unused. Though their dogma was forbidding dimensional scissors use unless it was absolutely necessary, she doubted that she even wanted to use it. Just using it simply for the reason that she knew that Marco would let it slide because he liked her wasn't good enough. But hey, if he liked her that much…

"I should really get around to asking him out… at least before the universe ends," Higgs mumbled with a smile teasing her lips. She was suddenly brought back to her situation when she heard a sickening squelching sound coming from behind her in her blind-spot and almost looked behind her to see what was making that sound. After all, Toffee was watching her back. Right?

The sound came again, and Higgs finally identified it as what it was and nearly vomited. It was Toffee, and he was behind her, using his axe to chop up Rhombulus, dismembering him and hacking him into pieces. The snake hands, when severed, hissed before going silent. Higgs couldn't see it, but she could imagine the deed as she struggled to keep her head centered on looking at the King, who she still was trying to finish but kept getting fended. It was a pitiful sight… it was as if he had lost the will to do anything, except for his customary wild attacks that kept Higgs from reaching him. Coupled with the narrow corridor, she couldn't even flank him without getting herself hacked to pieces, although that was precisely what Toffee was doing… with River forced to watch.

He could see everything and although being a barbarian by nature, it was the first time that he'd ever seen such cruelty; it was made even worse as Toffee had begun to hum a tune as he finally snuffed out the weak life that had still remained in Rhombulus, and still continued to chop him, golden blood splashing about wherever veins and arteries were severed; Rhombulus was no longer recognizable, and was only a mess of reptilian-like flesh in meaty blocks. "I thought he looked pretty good for someone I thought I killed. I'll have to assume that Omnitraxus Prime had something to do with that, with some sort of time ability. However, everything else in and around the castle was unaffected." He flipped the poleaxe in his hands, the blunt hammer side now being the offensive one. He lifted it, and swung it down hard against Rhombulus' head, but not cracking it. He swung it again hard again, this time producing a crack, and the floor of the corridor shook with the force. "Ergo, the time ability was rewound time in people only. There's nothing wrong in making it harder for Omnitraxus to bring this nuisance back to life."

Higgs took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Now, she thought, now would be a good time to try to fight the King now that he was distracted. Now would be a good time to kill him when he was still muddled with grief. But she couldn't stop hearing the sounds of a gem splintering up, with each thud of the axe sounding as if it would be the last.

"His head is supposed to be as hard as diamond. But with magic starting to run scarce in the universe, I bet even his powers and durability lose effect too." With an almighty swing, he put the entire axe through Rhombulus' head, breaking it apart into so many pieces like glass.

On his knees, River was still grieving, not so much for Rhombulus but for his wife.

Not yet done, Toffee reached down and picked up what was presumably a large piece of Rhombulus's heart and after giving the King a smug look, ate it.

"… Just in case." Was all he said. It was a guarantee that the M.H.C. creature couldn't be revived without all of his pieces present.

He then approached the prone form of Moon, where there was a small puddle of blood slowly growing around her. Seeing a faint light beneath her and the woman twitch, Toffee smiled his manic grin. "Moon? You're still alive?"

There was a weak moan as the queen engaged her butterfly state while desperately trying to heal her life-threatening wounds, but to River, it might as well have been the singing of angels. Brushing away his tears in relief, he got off his knees and was about to get closer to her only for Toffee to lift up his poleaxe above his head, ready to kill his wife.

"We can't have that, now can we?"

He thought he had lost Moon-… not a chance in hell was he going to lose her again! River's face reddened with rage, and he was blowing like a bull. He had completely lost it and started to rush at Toffee, not even minding Sienna who was practically in front of him; seeing her, but not really noticing her. Finally spotting her opening, she threw her knife as hard as she could at his face, already moving towards him while she did. On reflex, he shut his eyes while lifting the flat portion of his sword to shield his face. Those were all his mistakes, and he paid dearly as Sienna made it beside him and grabbed his leg. With a sudden wrench, she had tripped him to land on his belly, and while he was prone, she grabbed her knife from where it had fallen and tried to stab him in the back.

Not to be outdone so easily, however, the man rolled to his side while slashing his broadsword at her to force her to keep her distance. Higgs just barely managed to lean backwards from it, before she felt the _wind_ trailing behind the sword blow across her throat **hard**. Realizing how close her overconfidence nearly got her killed, she nearly ran away and had to steel herself to keep fighting. 'Calm down, Sienna! You can take him! You've gone through worse than this!'

Could she really fight him? When she tripped him, she felt like she had tried to flip a human-shaped boulder. When he just slashed at her, the wind from the sword was nearly enough to knock her off balance. She'd always known that he came from a barbaric lineage, but this was getting ridiculous. Although it made sense for a strong man to be the husband of the Queen of Mewni, he was still basically a killing machine. An ANGRY one at that.

Take him by surprise? Sure. Fight him in a fair confrontation? Fuck NO.

Sienna glanced pointedly at Toffee, silently asking him for help with her eyes. He shook his head. Damn his tests! Was now actually a good time for this kind of shit he was pulling? Whatever. If he only wanted to piss off the King just to give her a slight advantage, then she wouldn't even want to try to take it. Let him worry about the King.

That would have been all well and good… then River suddenly ran at Toffee like a speed demon and cut him into two pieces at the waist with his broadsword, spilling his acrid blood all over the place. Hardly had he finished bisecting the Septarian, River turned to Higgs, the girl turning panicking when she saw his eyes nearly fully upturned to whites in his rage.

Quick to act with an even quicker attack, River's sword swung in wide arcs as he dashed at the Knight, forcing her to instantly go on the defensive, backpedaling and reverse leaping to avoid getting bisected like Toffee. Suddenly, her back hit the wall just as River was about to swing his sword for the last time. Her body moved on autopilot, and the first thing that she did was to pull out her dimensional scissors in a frightened haste, and opened up a portal in behind her.

Sienna fell backwards through the portal to get the hell out of the situation fast, just barely escaping with her life. Toffee, who had finished pulling himself together by this time, silently watched as the girl's portal disappeared, leaving a furious king behind as his sword carved out destruction in the wall. Toffee readied himself to fight River; he momentarily wondered if the girl had chickened out of the impromptu test he was giving her. That test being whether or not she could fight River when he was at his full capabilities. Although he himself was taken unawares by the man's sudden attack, Toffee knew he could take on the man alone on his worst day… he had thought that Higgs could do the same.

No matter. The second he had walked into the battle at the ceremonial hall, Toffee had been able to tell her apart from the other knights… he had spotted the _warrior_ who was fighting alongside his King. But the girl ending up being the one seriously injured and had to be bailed out had damaged his confidence in her. He realized that she was older than she looked and fought the part, but there was only so much that she could do.

He wanted a tight-knit team with strong members, not just any weak sympathizer that Marco took a liking to. With River now turning back with his face all red with anger and charging at the Septarian, Toffee only frowned back in return.

"Wherever she's run off to, she'd better stay there. I hope she knows that if she cannot face even you, then we don't need her to throw her lot with us," he said darkly. Readying his poleaxe, he was about to fight River when a new portal appeared, right before the man's feet. River stopped just in time before he stepped into it, but another new (tiny) portal appeared behind him via which an arm came through, and pushed River forward to step into it. With his mouth open in a silent scream, he fell into the portal up until his gut prevented him from dropping through any more, like a pitfall trap that was one size too small to capture him. There was also an intense burning sensation wherever his legs were, one ten-times worse than the time he got burned by a geyser on Earth. Before the man could use his arms to brace himself to push his way out to avoid suffering any more, two new portals opened up where his palms met the ground, and exited through the ground via more portals before him, now looking like his own hands growing up out of the ground in front of him.

River yelled in shock at the portals ensnaring him, now panicking as he realized that he was helpless. Toffee, in one of his extremely rare times of being surprised, watched wide-eyed as a large portal finally opened in the usual upright fashion, and a woman stepped out. Decked out in a solid breastplate armor that protected her upper torso affixed with shoulder pads, she had chainmail as a substitute along her lower back, which revealed a part of the blue tunic she wore underneath. Her lower torso was more of the same; metal-plated at the front and _very_ closely-knit loops of chain armor to guarantee that every movement, that _every single step_ was as smooth as not even having armor on at all.

Her armor was the first thing that Toffee noticed… clothing told him everything he needed to know about the person… this person was obviously a strong fighter. When she turned to face him, he nearly gasped in recognition. The ginger hair was longer, the face more defined as a woman's would. But the stark-green eyes framed by the freckles underneath…

She turned away from him and faced the King who was struggling on the ground in front of her. "Well, look at that. Just as I thought, your damn gut stopped you from falling in all the way. Why don't you try sucking it in?" The woman paused, as if for effect. "Oh, you don't want to. Right now, your legs are touchin' a lava pit in Hekapoo's backyard. Why don't you suck in your gut?" As if fed up, the woman drew her steel-tipped foot back and kicked him in his solar plexus, making him dry heave in pain. "SUCK IT IN! I want to know how a pig smells as it fucking cooks!"

Gasping for breath but not getting enough, River doubled over. "Who the devil are you, woman?!" he spat, as he glared at her, noting her attire. "Are you a knight? You're fighting the wrong person-!"

This time, she kicked him harder, then again and again as hard as she could until his organs busted inside of him. River retched up blood all over, staining his clothes and beard and coating his teeth. Not fazed by her treatment of him, she looked down at him coldly.

"Higgs. My name is Sienna Higgs."

"Higgs…?" He groaned as he tried to place the name, before recognizing the woman as the girl who had insulted his wife at the Knighting ceremony and slain many of his subjects. Furthermore, she was the same girl who he had just been fighting. But how was she a grown-up…?

"And I _am_ a Knight," she said matter-of-factly, "And I'm fighting the right person." She was now able to speak her mind, speaking her pent-up feelings since she now had the upper hand with her prey helpless to resist. The theme wasn't appropriate, but she didn't care. "I used to be a squire in your army. You know why? Because I didn't want to starve to death."

Toffee raised an eyebrow, not sure how this was relevant. He could already guess where this was going, but why Higgs had chosen now to act on these feelings was beyond him.

"…" River stared incredulously at the girl, more in shock than his own pain. "You're killing me because you were hungry? You killed my knights, helped that thrice-damned Diaz to ruin the kingdom, and all for what?!" His eyebrows furrowed in sadness, regret, and anger. This girl had butchered so many of the knights, worked with Marco and caused so much chaos and nearly killed his wife… might as well have been… she was breathing heavily as she struggled to heal herself and even if any of the monsters standing before him didn't finish her off, she likely wouldn't make it anyway.

He became saddened again.

This girl had killed his wife.

"The King should work for the people, not the people work for the King. If you weren't such a fat slob, you would have had an easier death… maybe I wouldn't even have been here. When was the last time you went for a damn walk through the neighborhood just outside the castle, eh? Just to see what the people live like? You stayed locked up in your pretty little castle, safe from all the dirt, the Forest of Certain Death creeping in closer every year, and most of the damn food in your storehouse... _all for you._ "

"Fuck… you…"

Anyone could tell that it was the first time he had ever sworn. He was that angry and discomforted, what with a girl accusing him of mooching off of his Kingdom, getting fattened up while they starved. It was true that he ate better than them, but surely that didn't mean that he did not care for them! He cared for them!

Didn't he care for them?

His pain worsened. It was that much worse that his legs were _cooking_ , already burnt almost to a charred mess. It was taking everything he had to avoid screaming in pain, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. But by cursing her, he had unintentionally worsened his situation. She had wanted to see some repentance, but didn't get any. Then she'd get her revenge instead.

Sienna pulled out her dimensional scissors and dragging them across the portals where his arms were, closed them. As soon as the portals closed off, River's arms were amputated in a bloody explosion. His arms fell down limply in front of him, blood rapidly flowing from his severed veins. From his own stumps, blood squirted out faster, and his racing heart made the bleeding worse… as if his suffering wasn't enough, the fires consumed his legs, and River accepted that he had died, all the while as Toffee began to hum again, beginning to hack off her butterfly parts off of her, who screamed everytime the axe came down. River yelled his hurt in the back of his throat but still managed not to do it full out loud. "DAMN YOU!" He shouted from reddened locked teeth, "DAMN TOFFEE! DAMN MARCO TOO! I hope that you spend every second of your miserable lives in torment before you all get the fate you DESERVE!"

He'd already said far too much... far too much. Wanting to shut him up, Higgs closed the portal encircling his stomach.

…

They sat in the corridor on the floor next to each other, slouching with their backs against the wall. Every now and again they'd glance at the mutilated bodies, and Moon still struggling to cling to life. Sienna briefly thought about telling Toffee that she did all the work, but chose not to. She wasn't made to act, only _react_. Acting of her own accord always messed her up, made her do things she regretted. Killing… she could blot it out. Even worse, she had gotten used to it. Killing the King and Queen… no, that wasn't for Marco. It was personal.

But still, this was for a good cause, even though she broke it by using her scissors. She could feel a few tremors every now and again and wondered if it was because Moon was still trying to use magic to heal herself. Or were the quakes a result of using her dimensional scissors? And for what? Just to pass Toffee's little test? Wasn't killing the queen enough for him, but the King too? At least she had proved that she was strong enough to handle herself, particularly because she was now in her adult body. Higgs but couldn't understand why she hadn't reverted. Who knew? Maybe with the present crisis going on, she might be stuck like this. Not exactly like it was a bad thing. But it did symbolize something.

She wasn't an innocent girl anymore. She wasn't even just a wetworker anymore. Sienna Higgs was a warfighter.

"You're quite talented," Toffee repeated his earlier compliment, meaning it even more this time.

"Fuck you."

Toffee nodded. It was fair, he deserved the cussing, even though he didn't really care. The test was impromptu, but he'd never imagined that she would take the fight personally. He thought about what Higgs had said earlier and frowned deeply. "Your parents… your parents starved to death, didn't they?"

Sienna nodded sadly, trying not to cry. "It was during a famine. They starved to death right in front o' me. Every day, they wasted away, trying but couldn't even grow a single damn ear of corn. They begged, they stole, they did everything… but all they managed to do was feed me. They always smiled and told me that they were eating in other places, and I should eat what they gave me. And me being the stupid one didn't even realize that they were giving me all the little food we had."

Toffee nodded. "I think I know about that famine… four years ago was when it was…? It was rumored that River once stoned a stray animal out of the palace with corn." The Septarian turned his head to look at Sienna, but she wouldn't look him in the eyes. "You're ashamed. But if I were in your position, I would have done the same thing that you did."

"To do what? To work in his army just to feed myself?" she mumbled wistfully. "I had to train myself, and grovel in the dirt just to become a squire." Sienna then spotted the queen looking at her and glared back. "You can call it rationing, or 'trying to make it last longer than the famine', but that's not what was happening. You're the damn QUEEN, you could've **done** something! Not sit on the fuckin' corn harvest as if your whole kingdom wasn't starving! You and your husband were just another set of _assholes_ on the throne."

The queen only wheezed in response, blood dribbling down her chin. Her internal injury was fatal; it was taking everything she had just to stay alive, even after Toffee had chopped off her extra Butterfly appendages causing hemorrhages at her sides and back. In her own mind, she was only stalling for Omnitraxus at this point, hoping that he'd come and bring River and Rhombulus back to life. WHERE WAS HE?! It was the only reason why she hadn't allow herself to die. She'd been pinging her magic, hoping that somewhere, wherever he was, he'd recognize it as a signal that she needed help.

Footsteps were now heard. Moon feebly turned her head to where the sounds were coming from. She desperately hoped that it was a rescue. It could be a servant, a squire, a knight, anyone! Anyone who had legs who could run away to warn others was good enough. Through blurring vision, she thought that she could make out the orange form of Hekapoo approaching, accompanied by two others at her sides. This was even better than what she could've asked for-

Her heart fell when she recognized that one person was Eclipsa. The other was Marco.

"Feels like a bit of a waste of time," Eclipsa was saying, "making Hekapoo drop off that girl in her bed at home. It's not as if she's going to wake up. Forgive me for sounding callous, but she was dead, and the Universe isn't improving."

"I made the time," Marco said sternly. "It's the least I could do."

"By making Hekapoo use magic? Not exactly the wisest decision, Marco. Doesn't the phrase 'perishable resource' come to mind? Every portal we make has to be _essential."_

"Eclipsa, it was my choice." Hekapoo grumbled. "So let it be."

"Very well." The three came to a stop, Eclipsa being the first when she saw the bloody messes in the hall, and the Bishop and Knight sitting in the corridor close by as if waiting for the rest of their group to pass by. However, she was also the first to spot and recognize the queen. "Oh? Moon? I forgot about you. Wait… are you crying?" Eclipsa knelt and rested her hand on her back and patted. "There, there. Everything will be all right-"

"That pile of guts over there is her husband," Toffee deadpanned, pointing at the corpse. Said dead body had no lower torso to be found, and blood was seeping from it everywhere, and staining the corridor carpet in a nasty color.

"Oh." Eclipsa didn't know what to say. It didn't matter, it would not have mattered anyway, as Moon continued to weep. Fifteen minutes had passed. Even if Omnitraxus came _now_ , no one could be saved. She could only watch as Higgs had tortured and killed her husband right in front of her, and for all her status, wealth, magic and lineage, Moon was powerless to stop it. She was powerless.

Eclipsa was a traitor, Higgs and Toffee had murdered her husband, Marco had escaped and was being abetted by Hekapoo… everything was making a turn for the worst. Marco, sensing magic pulsating from her, narrowed his eyes as he stared at her coldly. Excusing Eclipsa away from the queen, he then picked Moon up bodily, setting her to sit up against the wall, just across from Higgs who continued to glare at her. Her eyes dimmed as her blood loss was catching up to her.

Yet, her eyes were open just enough as she stared back at them. They were all there.

Sienna Higgs, the Clandestine Knight. Toffee, the Septarian Bishop. Eclipsa Butterfly, the Queen of Darkness. Hekapoo, the Enforcer Rook. Marco Diaz, the Proclaiming King.

 _The Black Insurgency._

In Moon's eyes, all she saw were monsters.

Marco was saying something she didn't quite hear. Instead, she thought about how she wanted to see her husband on the other side of life if there was one. She didn't want to leave their daughter behind, but she didn't have a choice to make. Too much blood loss… instead of her life-liquid being in her, it was all over her, and spreading over the floor. Finally, she was gone, her celeste eyes lost their light, her diamonds breaking.

Perhaps it was just as well… she wasn't feeling how Marco was cutting her neck open from ear to ear, digging into it as it were nothing but a slab of meat.

He was putting pain in a corpse to make sure that it wouldn't use any more magic.

That was all.

 **=X=X=**

At some point in the night, a girl woke up in the castle, unattended to, unlike how she had been all her life. Although extremely dazed and confused, she knew just enough to realize that she had a splitting headache and that something was terribly wrong. She had a sense of urgency, something hurrying her to get out of the bed. She was only in her nightie but still went quietly padding off in her bare feet through the castle.

She was being beckoned somewhere. At some point, she thought that she was sleepwalking, but realized that she wasn't. She was conscious. Wasn't she? Maybe this was like that time when she was sleepwalking while casting magical spells in her sleep? Is that why she couldn't see anyone? And why did it feel like she was tripping over invisible objects every now and again? And why did it feel like the bottoms of her feet kept sticking to the floor? And what was that stench? It smelt like when someone was sharpening a weapon on a grindstone. Smelt like iron, maybe? And what was that other smell? Smoke?

Where was everyone?

She was starting to become uneasy. The castle was easily huge when it was occupied by people, and even more so when it feels like she was all alone in it. But that couldn't be right, could it? Did she miss something, like an event being kept somewhere else?

This was as far as her conscious thoughts went.

Finally, she came to a stop. She wasn't sure why, but whatever that felt like it had been calling her had stopped. She was in the middle of a corridor one that had a doorway with no door. She giggled a bit, despite herself.

Then she thought that she could see Glossaryck.

He wasn't crouched in his usual dog-like stance. In fact, she didn't really see him. She thought that she could see that he was there, but not really seeing with her eyes. Like a sixth sense. She was seeing his presence, but not seeing him literally. Then he wasn't there anymore.

She was so confused.

After this, it felt like some sort of covering had fallen from her eyes, like lenses that distorted the way she saw the world. She wasn't seeing before. Now she was.

She wished she hadn't.

She hoped she wasn't.

Closest to her, strewn about were pieces that were all steeped in golden blood. She thought that she couldn't make out what used to be a snake arm and reptilian-looking flesh for a torso. By the time she saw the purplish cape, she realized what she was looking at, or _who_.

"Rhombulus?"

She was about to step forward, only to be stopped by the same sticky feeling that had lingered on her feet, the fibers of the carpet clinging to her soft soles. Glancing down, she was horrified to find that blood was all over them; she had been walking in the blood of the occupants of the castle, and tripping over their dead bodies as she stumbled her way here. What was worse was that if Rhombulus was dead, the stationed protector of her parents, then where were they-?!

That was when she saw them. Her jaw dropped in bare recognition of them. Her father was horribly mutilated, his body in pieces all over the floor with all of his innards spilled out of him. Some of them looked as if they were stomped to pieces maliciously. His face was frozen in a yell of anger and pain.

"…Dad…?"

She was already tearing up, unable to breathe because of the lump in her throat. Taking a deep swallow, it wouldn't pass. Trying to tear her eyes away from her father, she was met more with the sight of her mother. She had a single stab wound in her chest, easily visible because of the hole in her white dress. Her butterfly arms and wings were on the ground, having been lopped off and ripped off roughly to cause her to bleed even more. But nothing looked as horrible as the huge gash in her throat, so wide and deep that it'd been cut right to the bone; spilled blood had painted the entire woman's dress into a new color in the worst way. Her glassy eyes stared back into hers as if she was waiting to say something, but never got to.

"…Mom…?" She looked so unhappy. The distraught girl tried to shake her mother awake, expecting everything but getting nothing but her mother's head lolling about uselessly. "… Mom…? … MOM? … MOM…?!"

There wouldn't be an answer. She wanted a hug, a friendly word, a scolding, anything.

Her mother didn't say anything.

The girl wanted to wake up. But she didn't. All she got was her mother's eyes staring lifelessly back into hers.

Unable to take any more, a shriek tore from Star's lips that echoed through the empty burning castle filled with the dead. The princess lost her mind in grief, and all of Mewni heard Queen Star scream in anguish.


	25. Kitchen-Sink

**Vestiges**

 **-I can't believe it… six chapter** ** _titles_** **(K, P, L, O, M, N) left to go, including this one. There's a lot I haven't gotten done (SHIPPING!), and still a lot (CONFLICT!) I have to do. I guess this means I may have to split up the final chapter into two or three chapters (N x 3), hell, and the word count for each chapter from now on might be upwards of 7k. Regardless I wanted this fic done before January; the deadline was originally to be by the one year anniversary, but I'm not gonna rush it because of a reader's insistence. Thanks. I'm only gonna** ** _slightly_** **rush it.**

 **-Book of Eli, damn man. You were always a psychic, and now you're evil, too?**

 **-To the French reviewer(s):** **Tu es plus fou que moi, et je suis content que vous ayez aimé le chapitre!**

 **25.**

The quakes finally came to a stop. Everyone looked around at each other for a full minute before all the attention settled on Hekapoo who began to shuffle around nervously, fully aware why they were focused on her. Despite this, she still asked:

"What?"

Toffee stared at her blankly. "Really? You start to rip open a portal through No Man's Land, an earthquake nearly kills us all and you don't know _why_?" Said Septarian was half-crushed by the fallen debris, huge slabs of rock they were. His acrid blood was oozing between the cracks as if to accentuate the seriousness of his situation. Elsewhere, Marco was hanging on to the edge of the firmer pieces of earth, holding on to Sienna's hand as they dangled over a chasm formed by the breakaway. High above everyone else, Eclipsa was floating using her umbrella. The woman stared at Hekapoo with a frown on her face, chewing on a snookers bar all the while.

"So yeah, I know why!" Hekapoo retorted angrily. "I was just doing what you all expect me to do! Open portals!"

"How much magic did you use?!" Higgs yelled from her precarious position.

"About a shit-ton of it," the demigoddess shouted back as if it was a normal answer. Higgs briefly glanced down into the chasm that had formed by the massive earthquakes that had rocked the area for more than a few minutes, altered the landscape so much that it wasn't even recognizable anymore. Granted, they were already in No Man's Land and the place was already crazy enough to begin with, creatures and monsters on the prowl, some of them flying around. Higgs could've sworn that she could see even more of them gliding through the chasm far below her, and looked back up at Hekapoo.

"How about using _less_?!"

"Can't. I need at least _two_ shit-tons more to open the portal to the next dimension in No Man's Land."

Well, shit. They just hit a huge roadblock. Sienna kissed her teeth in frustration. Sometimes, the problems just kept cropping up one after another, like some higher being was trying to keep them from succeeding. Before her mind could ramble down this path anymore, her wrist began to feel uncomfortable in Marco's grasp. He wasn't necessarily squeezing her hand, it was just the fact that her hand was the sole thing supporting her body weight.

With her free hand, she fished out her dimensional scissors from its holster, already thinking of a place to teleport to safety. Just before she could use it, she felt Marco's grip tighten just a bit, and she looked up into his face. He wasn't necessarily angry-looking, but he wasn't smiling either.

"Don't."

Without even a trace of reluctance, Higgs put the scissors back, and the King promptly threw her (easily) over his head and back to solid ground. After landing nimbly, she reached her hand to help him up, and although he was strong enough to climb up by himself, he accepted her assistance politely. Eclipsa watched them silently as she levitated the debris from Toffee's location before blowing them apart to free the Septarian. She returned her attention to Toffee and rebuked him for not avoiding getting crushed. The only response he had for her was a silent look. "What is it, Toffee? Something on my face?"

"You're using magic… but there aren't any dimensional quakes." No sooner had the words dropped from his mouth had everyone started to stare at the Queen, suddenly making her self-conscious. Without even realizing it, she had dug into her purse and was once again consuming another snookers bar. Seeing Marco's stare getting colder and colder every second as his perturbed look seemingly demanded an explanation, she nibbled at it faster.

She was becoming a wreck, she thought as she started to use another spell to manipulate the ground, she reformed a decent piece of it, summoned a table complete with a kettle with tea and everything sheltered under a large awning.

…

"So, are you gonna explain, or are we supposed to watch you grow old?" Hekapoo asked rudely before she gulped down her piping hot tea. "C'mon, give us something."

"We've hit a snag," Eclipsa said.

"Duh." Higgs fidgeted in her seat to get more comfortable whilst blowing on her tea in an effort to cool it down. Next to her, Marco was more or less the same. Eclipsa focused on him in particular and silently wondered how the smallest (and the youngest) among them was their leader, their King. While she knew who he was originally, she couldn't get quite read for what lied behind his face. It was a bit too impassive, though it was different whenever he looked at Hekapoo and Higgs-

"Rook and Knight, hmm?" Eclipsa said with a laugh. She resisted the urge currently to eat another of her snookers bar, wanting to make them last. Instead, she started dropping more sugar cubes, (far beyond what was considered healthy) and stirred it into her tea. "Here's the thing. Magic can't be explained-"

"We know that already." Marco interrupted. "Move on."

Eclipsa smiled bemusedly at the boy. "Fine. I'll skip ahead. Can you explain what 'Life' is?"

"Nope."

"That's what magic is."

No one spoke as they tried to process this. Marco thought of replying, but couldn't when nothing came to mind. Finally, he came around to the idea. "Makes sense. If death is order, then life is magic, and vice-versa. It's not necessarily what it is, but it's just a part of it."

"A big part of it," Hekapoo added. "Everything happens for a reason, but you can't explain the biggest things. We know how a person is born, how they live, how they die, even go as far as to figure out _why_ they lived, but you can't explain how life started in the first place. How life starts…"

"Magic." Toffee said gruffly. "I can't say that I'm surprised. Would it also be safe to assume that the growing populations in all the dimensions helped set this apocalypse into motion?"

Eclipsa nodded. "In a manner of speaking, yes, it does." She looked back at the Diaz. "I thought everyone would be aware of this. Have you ever stopped to consider how magic has been used to create living, sentient creatures? Magic is as magic does."

"You sound just like Marco," Hekapoo observed, recalling what he had said during the battle in the ceremonial hall. "I know that it can't be explained, but that doesn't make it a bad thing-"

"Of course magic isn't a bad thing. It's quite lovely, and I daresay that it's rather convenient. But the siphon has got to go. Supporting life and the rest of the dimensions is quite easy, but this Wellspring is allowing people like you, Higgs and Marco over there with their scissors and everyone else to use the power of _lives_ to make their own lifestyles easier." She looked around at them all around the table, noticing their unasked question. "And I can tell what you're all thinking. 'What about Eclipsa? Bloody hell, she just made a shelter and TEA for us!'" Watching them all nod, she went on. "Well, it's simple. I'm using my OWN life to power my magic. See? Simple. Simple, simple, simple."

"Shouldn't you have been dead already if that's the case?"

"Do I honestly seem like the sort to use magic for every little thing? Have you ever seen me try to create living beings?" Seeing them shake their heads, the Queen began to chortle slightly uncontrollably, leading Marco to think that she was spazzing out because of the sugar. He hadn't never before seen someone with such a high sugar intake except for Star. Wait a minute…

"We should've killed Star," Marco said carelessly. Eclipsa jumped in and said that she had meant to remind him about that before they left Mewni, but she had forgotten about her. Deciding to temporarily put the princess on the back burner since she was probably still in her coma, he refocused his attention back on the matter at hand. "What are we gonna do next? Only Hekapoo can open a portal through here to go further to the Wellspring. It'll be easier for her to do it, instead of me and Higgs carving at each portal for a day. She can halve the time or even less, right?"

"But she can't open the portal without killing all of us. You lot, I mean," Toffee pontificated, "Not myself."

"Says the only guy who got hurt," Higgs said snidely. She took out her scissors and held it out to Eclipsa. "Since you can power your magic with your life, can we do the same thing? You know, with our dimensional scissors?"

Eclipsa tried her tea. It was sickeningly sweet, just the way she habitually took it. "Of course you can. This procedure is the equivalent of 'digging deep' to use magic, but also the opposite. Digging deep is basically mentally hooking yourself up to the Wellspring and that's generally _bad_ , right?" Seeing them all nod, she went on to make her point. "But this method will lock you _away_ from using the magic that's coming from the Wellspring and that which saturates the dimensions… you'd be self-sustaining your magic, and to reiterate what I said earlier, you'd be using magic at the cost of your own lives."

Hekapoo's already daisy-complexion seemed to blanch at the proposal as she hesitated. "Seems like a fair trade-off, and can't be that detrimental if you're still alive. How do we do it?"

"All you really need King's 'permission'. You'll also have to forfeit three things; you don't get to choose what those are."

"A WHAT?" Higgs asked as she stared at Marco and scratch her head in confusion. "Permission? Forfeiture?"

"What's this forfeiture and permission crap?" Marco mirrored Higgs, completely flummoxed. "I have to give people permission to use their own lives to power their own magic?"

"I know of the procedure," Toffee stated, "but there really isn't a ceremony, so there's no script. Things just happen naturally, but at the end, Appendaxuz will give permission to the person-"

"Toffee," Eclipsa interrupted gently, "Appendaxuz is dead. I thought it was obvious." Toffee recoiled as if struck; he looked like he was about to become belligerent, but the Queen promised to explain his issue of things later. "For now, let's focus on the current agenda. Marco, you have the authority, correct? Then it's a relatively simple issue. You simply ask the person if they are willing to self-sustain their own magic, and then _they_ say that they will proffer three things in forfeiture… these aren't actual THINGS, but are more like character traits, with the third 'thing' being their lives. Then, they swear themselves to you and state why. Then, you'll say that they have your permission. See? Easy!" Eclipsa said brightly, before becoming thoughtful for a moment. "Except of course, if either Hekapoo or Higgs lie about their reasons, they'll die of a heart attack. It's like one of those horrid Box of Truths, but far more consequential." She paused a moment to allow it to sink in, and her usually chipper expression turned into a glare that she leveled at them both in turn. "You'll wander through hell as a lost soul. And believe me, you don't want to be in the underworld right now."

Both Hekapoo and Higgs shared a panicky look. Eclipsa noticed, and her harsh frown changed back into her smile, knowing that her warning was well-received. "Um… right now?" Sienna questioned unsurely, "And is this a private thing between Marco and me and Hekapoo?"

"Time isn't something we _have_ , dearie. But don't worry, it's really easy. What you need to say seems to come to mind naturally, because I certainly didn't have to rehearse this… the procedure can be formal like a swearing ceremony, or as informal as a handshake. You'll be fine. As for the forfeiture, the 'things' that you lose are a bit random; take me for instance. Low-level spells take something inconsequential, and in my case, my blood sugar. Mid-level spells affect my short term memory capacity. High-level spells take away some of my life's longevity. Nothing to worry about." Waving her wand, Marco's dimensional scissors floated out of his back pocket and flew to her free hand, and she opened up a portal with it. "In the meantime, Toffee and I will go looking for Star-… hmm, no, she's invulnerable to everyone but Marco." Eclipsa hemmed and hawed. "We'll go scouting for Omnitraxus instead. Who knows? Maybe he's weakened right now, and he's hiding out in his dimension. Ta-ta." Marco and the others watched as the Queen and the Bishop left them alone, the Enforcer of the trio realizing that they left alone mostly so that they could have the 'privacy' that Higgs had wanted. It was better than nothing, she guessed.

"Could I do this ritual thing first?" Higgs asked. Before Hekapoo could even put up an argument, Marco agreed to the girl's request. However, before he could possibly dismiss her, Hekapoo excused herself and walked away and it was much further than what one would consider earshot distance. Marco was unsure why Hekapoo now seemed closed off to him, but was brought back to the moment when he realized that he was all alone with his Knight.

"I wonder if she's doing okay?" the Diaz said to himself, his face clouded with apprehension. "She's acting a bit weird right now, huh?" Higgs still heard what he said, and shrugged.

"Kinda easy to see why. She's afraid of what I'll say to you."

Marco lifted an eyebrow. He noted how Higgs was being unusually withdrawn-looking as well and felt nervous all of a sudden. "What ARE you gonna say?"

"Just a bunch of stuff." Sienna took the teenager's hand and with her scissors, she opened a portal and led him through. As he tried to ignore the inner rumblings of the ground when the portal found, Marco wasn't even aware of their destination until he found himself at the inn in the room that he and Higgs had slept in when they were planning their sorties. After seating herself on the bed, she patted the spot next to her, motioning for Marco to sit beside her. After he did, the woman smirked down at the teenager and Marco felt somewhat unsettled at her expression. Her eyes (being sharp from her training in Hekapoo's trial), easily picked up how uneasy Marco had become and tried to clear the tension with a joke. "I guess that 'cougar' thing you mentioned back on Earth must be running through your mind right now."

"Cougar?" He laughed nervously. Superhuman resistance to physical damage or not, he didn't want to risk a fully grown Higgs slugging him in the shoulder. "Errm, nope. Not at all."

"It does feel strange," she admitted as she looked over herself, "actually looking like the grown-up I am, but you're still in your teenage body, 'cause we usually age into the same bodies when we travel everywhere together. And the funny thing is, I've never fully gotten used to this body, at least, I always tried not to. Maybe I oughta push you through into Hekapoo's dimension and bring you back in your adult form too. Just to even things out a little."

"I wouldn't mind obligating you if it would make you more comfortable around me," Marco replied, "But we've been opening some unnecessary portals, even just by coming here. I wouldn't go to Hekapoo's dimension just to look older, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry you look like this. Hmm…" Marco's fingers drummed on the handle of his sword. "Since magic caused you to look like this, maybe I can order it to be reversed." He pulled out the sword and drawing on his aura, repeated his clincher and tapped it gently on her shoulder. Already, she began to revert back to her teenage looking self, despite her insistence that she didn't mind looking the way she did. Too late to fight it, she just shrugged it off.

"I can't fight at my best when I'm a teenager, Marco. I didn't care what I looked like. Hell, maybe I'll actually go back to Hekapoo's dimension when we're done just so I can change back. But on the issue of portals, I dragged you here for the privacy." Before he could interrupt her, she stopped him. "Let me finish. I know we could have had privacy back where we just were, but right here in this room, things are quiet and they still make sense. It's been a whirlwind ever since we bumped into each other in the castle hallways, huh?"

"It was kinda slow for me when I was back on Earth-"

"But it wasn't slow for me!" Sienna exclaimed. "I was in and out of Hekapoo's trial for the whole time, chasing her around for eighteen years! I guess I was just obsessive…" She shook her head in disgust. "But I was still in my right mind. You could just be polite and say that I was fixated on you. It was just like when you said that you spent your sixteen years trying to earn your scissors to give to Star, but for me, I earned my scissors just so that I could get to see you again." Marco frowned, and she could guess why. "Yeah, kinda went the long fuckin' distance just for friendship, and just look at me." Sienna gestured at herself. "I joined forces with a team of freaks, killed Mewni's monarchy, gutted and slaughtered dozens of their knights and now I'm dead-set on a suicide mission to save the universe!" Her voice suddenly became small and quiet, "all because of a friend."

Marco looked down in shame. "I lost my anger. No, I can switch it on or off, and my conscience too. But you don't. You _can't._ I don't know how you cope, but you've been killing for me. You've been killing _because of me_. I know that I put pressure on you to do it, and I'm sorry. If I could make it up to you, I would." At this, Higgs grasped at her knife, and with an unexpected show of dexterity, yanked it out of its sheath and twirled it in around her hands, then around her unprotected fingers. It was almost like watching a butterfly knife in motion, and the glint of it flashed faster and faster until she finally brought it to a stop, and caught it by the handle.

"I didn't get this weapon _because_ of you. It didn't cut down your enemies _because_ of you. It didn't kill them _because_ of you. It was my choice to use it, and I did it _for_ you. Me already itching to put most of them down helped with the motivation." Higgs smiled a strange grin as she stared him in the face. "But I can look straight at you and I can tell what you're thinking! 'Sienna Higgs was following my orders, so I'm the one killed all those people!'"

"I wasn't thinking that-"

"Don't try to lie your way out of it," she interrupted sharply, "I can just tell. Don't worry about it. Do you know what I really liked about you being my King, Marco? I always had a choice, and I could've stopped at any time. I've always liked that… none of that sworn-in bullcrap. I told you before that I'm more than willing to do it for your sake, but you've gotta know that once I'm sworn to you with this self-sustaining magic crap, then you're going to be **responsible** for every act I make. You're gonna be responsible for everything I say. You're not responsible for what I did before, but now, you will." Sienna slid her knife back into its scabbard right up to the hilt with a thud. "Feels like this was a long time coming. Feels like it was only yesterday we were hanging out in your room. Now, we're getting our hands bloodied and trying to stop the universe from going down the friggin' toilet."

"You're saying that we wouldn't be friends anymore."

"I am saying that," Higgs agreed, before heaving a sigh. "I'm kinda confused about this. I have no real problems going through with this, but it's just that I don't want to. I don't want our ranks to come between us! I understand that I'm a Knight and you're a King, but that was all well and good when it was just a title. Now, it'll actually BE a distinction, a separation in class."

"If you won't, I don't think I'll have a problem with that!" Marco insisted. "You've been nothing but a huge help to me, Sienna, and one of my only friends left!" At the dropping of the word 'friends', Higgs flinched almost unnoticeably, but Marco caught it and was unsure why. "Look, the stress is getting to you, and it's no wonder why. If you want, maybe you can take a break, go do whatever you want. If you're feeling like you're way in over your head, you can stop. You don't have to follow me if you feel like you're throwing your life."

"We're friends, Marco." It came out low, and Marco had to lean in closer to hear her. "And you're right, I don't want to follow you anymore. I want to be _beside_ you. In our minds, we're friends, but I wanted us to be more than that." Already, her confession was coming out and Higgs couldn't stop herself. "I've always been drawn to you, and I don't know why. It could be because I was an isolated hungry bitch that you made friends with-… you know how my parents died, and how it messed me up to be in that castle. Trying to help me out and cooking for me, and I latched on to you because of that. Or it could be because I had a crush on you-… it was always growing on me and it never left me, no matter how much I grew up when I was in Hekapoo's dimension, trying to earn dimensional scissors just so I could get to see you again. I always thought about you, about how alone I felt without you."

At this point, her head sagged down and her shoulder slumped. Marco thought of hugging her but was afraid of making the wrong impression. At the last, he cursed himself for hesitating and finally put his arms around her, and pulled her in close. They stayed like that, locked in an embrace for a while. At some point, Marco felt like his clothes were slowly getting dampened at the neck. She was crying.

"Or maybe it's destiny," she whispered into his ear. "I don't care what the reason is. I just wanted it to happen. But it's not going to. No matter how you feel about me, you feel more for Hekapoo than for me. I don't know why, and I don't understand. What does she have that I can't give you?"

He was still unsure about how to respond to all of this. Marco didn't quite trust himself to speak, either, and found himself wanting to break her monologue before she said something he was afraid to hear. "Everyone keeps talking about me and Hekapoo this, me and Hekapoo that. We don't-"

"You're still just a nerd for not realizing," Sienna rebuked not too unkindly, "and anyone can tell just from how the both of you look at each other, and I wished that you'd look at me the same way too. Well, you **do** , but not as much." She tilted her head up from off of his shoulder and smiled sadly while poking at his chest. "You got a piece of me in there already. Got any more room for _me_?" It was a simple question with weird wording, but it had a complicated answer. He was already heavily conflicted just from the violence of the past issues and his struggle to accept that he was becoming the God of Order. Now, he was back right into his teenage dramas and romances.

Marco sighed. Life for him was always going to get more and more complicated and it was just now that he was thinking that she was right… he DID have feelings for both of them, although there was a marginal difference in favor of Hekapoo. "I can't promise you-" Before he could go any further, she shushed him quiet by grabbing his head and pulling him towards her, and pressed her lips against his.

She was kissing him.

Sure, he wasn't fighting it. For the first time in a long time, Marco allowed himself to relax and kissed her back. It wasn't his first kiss and it easy to tell that it was hers; she was inexperienced, but they both enjoyed it. Higgs was tickled by the feeling and giggled into his mouth. Marco finally smiled into the kiss and in doing so, at last, their lips matched each other.

They sat there in the serene, all that could be heard were the sounds of the two making out with one another and at some point, he had allowed Higgs to ease him to lie on his back in the bed, with her on top of him. It was deepening, escalating more and more until it felt like Higgs was practically grinding against him, though they were still clothed. After parting from each other and breaking the fragile thread of silver shared between their lips, she leaned down to speak into his ear. "How about we go change into our adult forms," she whispered sultrily, "and I'll give you some real breasts and curves to hang on to?"

"AAANNNDDD… " Marco got back up and bucked Sienna off to the side. "I see what you're doing." The girl rolled sideways off the bed harmlessly to the floor on the other side from him and once she recovered her bearings, sat there with only her head and shoulders showing and gave him a mixed look of disappointment, mischief and... stimulation?

"What, make you forget about Hekapoo? Did it work?"

"Not how'd I put it," Marco said flatly. "I know what you're up to. And knowing how you are, you'll never stop." Sienna gave him what she thought was a sexy smile, and almost relished how he turned his head to hide his face, though there was no way of hiding the growing erection he had in his loins.

"Ha! Prude."

"Says the virgin."

Higgs reddened with embarrassment. "YOU'RE A VIRGIN TOO! A FREAKIN' THIRTY-ODD YEAR OLD VIRGIN!" It was the equivalent of a childish 'no, you' argument, and she knew that she'd already lost face. "Oh cripes, isn't it horrible for you to get cockblocked by thoughts of another woman? You almost had me." Seeing his face contort with irritation, she refrained from further trying to rile him or tempt him-… it wasn't working. With a sigh of acceptance, she got up from where she was and circled around the bed to stand in front of him, topless; she'd removed it while she had been concealed by the bed. "Yeah, there's definitely some love for me in there. It's more than I expected to get. I suppose that's good enough for me and like you realized… I'm always gonna be trying to work my way in there. It's going to be weird though, I gotta admit that. Me trying to cope with the ranks between us, not just Hekapoo. Then there's the fact that she's basically the 'wife', and I'm the outside girl who breaks up marriages." Higgs scratched her cheek at the thought and beamed at Marco cheerfully. "What do _you_ think?"

"I think," Marco grumbled as he tried to keep his eyes from wandering below her face, "that you need to put your shirt back on. Now let's do what we came here to do."

"Well, damn," she said softly, "so… we're doing this, huh?" She stared down at her feet and fidgeted in a bout of strange nervousness; it was queer, as she hadn't had the feeling for years, not since all the way back when she was with Marco in his bedroom so long ago. Even the fact that they would've almost christened the bed hadn't made her uncomfortable, and yet now she was. She gazed up again at Marco, who was trying to look stoic, but his façade soon broke when he saw how timid she looked. Like her, he couldn't understand why she was being nervous all of a sudden. He'd always admired her for how willful and determined she was-… no matter how strong he got, he always depended on her and now it appeared she was close to breaking down. It could be a core personality trait of hers to never subject herself fully to another authority, and anything she did was because she wanted to.

"Errm, Marco? About what I said earlier about our distinction of rank… you won't allow it to change anything between us, will it?"

"No." His tone was in such a peculiar way that it was as if he was trying to be authoritative and non-threatening at the same time. A friendly King, maybe?

"You're prepared to take responsibility for my actions?"

"Yes. But if you try anything like what you just did, that's all on you."

Sienna grinned at this as she noted the state of his clothes. "Yes **sir**. Man, when Hekapoo sees how rumpled your clothes are, she's gonna make you sleep on the couch…!" She went back around the bed to retrieve her shirt and put it back on before returning to hug him. "I'm in love with my best friend," she said as she came to terms with how she felt, "and he loves me too, just not as much as he does for my other friend. I can accept it. If my job as your knight doesn't come between us, even if I'm sworn to you formally or just like how we're holding each other right now, then I don't care. Even if I'm sidelined, I'm happy enough to be your sword."

Marco thought he had known where he had heard this before. Higgs sounded exactly like him… exactly like Marco Ubaldo Diaz, the Squire to the Princess. Only now, Higgs was Marco, and Marco was Star, and Hekapoo was Tom. It frightened him to see the parallels, yet excited him. If he were in her place now, what would he want to hear that would help comfort him? Before he could say anything, he pondered about whether he should after all. Besides, as Higgs said, she was happy. She wasn't satisfied, but she was happy.

He had said that to Star too. That wasn't enough for him when it happened, so was she the same right now?

"These kinds of complicated relationships are gonna be the death of me," he grumbled, although his attitude was pliable, "and I'm never really sure about what to do. I can't have my cake and eat it. I can't love both of you and expect the two of you to love me back. It's just not right."

"Some of Mewni's kings were known to take concubines." She could feel him tense up in her arms, and rushed to salvage the situation. "Yeah, you're an Earthman, but think about it! Only instead of me, you could take _Hekapoo_ as the concubine."

"That joke's not funny."

"I know. Marco, please? Can you ask me if I'm willing to sustain my magic by myself?" Now, she just wanted to get this so-called ritual thing over with. He obliged her with her request and asked her. "-Yes, I am willing to self-sustain my magic. I offer myself, including my life as forfeit if necessary. I…" Sienna felt hesitancy start to creep in again when she remembered what she was meant to say next, and cast it away in her adamancy. "I _SWEAR_ myself to Marco Diaz… because he's my King, my best friend and I am in love with him."

They waited. She didn't die. This meant that her reasons were real. Not only that, but it meant that she really did love Marco. If she actually didn't, then she would've died. There had been no lies.

Heaving a sigh in acceptance, a delusion briefly overtook her mind. To her, she was suddenly in a huge throne room of an infinite size that seemed to keep growing larger, and Marco's shadow was actually standing behind him as a huge apparition with glowing green eyes, and it kept growing as well. The illusion only lasted for a moment or two, just short of the amount of time needed for her to actually react, and she was suddenly brought back to reality, with Marco replying to her oath.

"Sienna Higgs, you have my permission," he said gently. "I love you too, so don't go overboard and kill yourself."

"I'm gonna be fine, nerd." They released each other, and it was with interest that Marco saw that the Knight symbol on her neck was now green instead of black. "Anyway… wanna stick around for a while?"

The Diaz shook his head. "Nah, we better get Hekapoo to use her own magic too. So let's go." He reached into his pockets but his hands came up empty. "Crap, I forgot that Eclipsa borrowed my scissors. Sienna, can you open up the portal?" He looked to her, but Higgs looked smug-… usually not a good sign. "Where're your scissors?"

"In my shorts."

"Well, take it out-"

"You take it out."

"We don't have time for this!" He stepped forward, and patted her thighs to feel for pocket bulges and to his shock, found none. "Wait, you don't have any pockets…?!"

Higgs grinned. Yep, she had him.

"…I know."

 **vVv**

It'd been a long time since Hekapoo had returned to the table, and rested her head on it in her disappointment. She'd hoped to get to see how the 'swearing-in' procedure was carried out, but Higgs had spirited both herself and Marco away through a portal for an even greater sense of privacy. Besides the fact that the earth shaking a little when the portal opened (it was practically normal at this point), Hekapoo was disappointed. Everyone could travel about with their scissors with minor consequences to other dimensions, but when she was needed to breach portals deeper through No Man's Land, the dimension occupied suffered a quake that completely transformed the landscape at the epicenter.

This was her job, wasn't it? What she lived for? She was the _enforcer_ for the interdimensional travel in the entire damn multiverse! This was what she lived for, what she was made for!

"What I was made for," the demigoddess grumbled heatedly, "and I can't even open a stinking portal without killing everyone." Taking a moment to analyze her situation, she realized that she was at a low point, lower than she'd ever been ever since she was created. Judging by the events of what had happened the night before, she and Omnitraxus Prime were the last of the M.H.C., and if Eclipsa and Toffee were to find **and** kill him, then she WOULD be the only one left.

She had promised herself that she wouldn't grieve until this mess was all over, but it was getting harder to stave off her anguish. Moon was, well, Moon was the Queen. As the queen in the Magic High Commission, she was replaceable just like every other monarch who had preceded her. They were mortal, and Moon was just as mortal as her antecedents and the citizens she ruled over. However, Moon was one of the few queens that Hekapoo had liked-… an upstanding woman who was both stern and understanding, righteous yet kindhearted as she continued to grow into her maternal role.

And Rhombulus... Literally and metaphorically hardheaded, belligerent and always making mistakes. Stubborn, too.

But damn, he was her kid brother. Not to mention the fact Lekmet died last year.

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheek in a rivulet of fire. She wasn't even aware of the fact that she was crying until she heard a sizzling coming from the table below her. The molten liquid scorched the wood and ate its way through. Taking a deep breath, she tried to suppress her anguish. Yeah, she could do that. Being successful for the moment, she made a conscious effort to breathe a little more deeply and calmed herself. It only lasted for a brief time before she realized a damning truth.

Their deaths were one thing, though. Now, she had to consider the fact that she was rubbing shoulders with killers. With _THEIR_ killers.

"Oh, shit, we've gone off the rails now, Hekapoo!" She anxiously began to think of reasons why they had to die and although they were 'good' reasons, they scarcely made her feel any better, particularly given the fact they were misdemeanors she was also guilty of. "They kept abusing magic, and that's why they had to die! They wouldn't stop! I could, and they couldn't!"

That was true… sort of. She was willing to stop, but using magic was like an unintentional habit, hell, even her abhorred immortal life was powered by it. And just last night when she was fighting, she defaulted and used magic to kill the knights. The demigoddess knew that she could claim self-defense and that would be justified. Killing herself to stop using magic to fuel her immortality wasn't. And then there was the factor that she had been using magic almost non-stop for the past year along with her fellow M.H.C. members despite warnings from Marco before he was banished from Mewni. She was guilty too. That either meant that she should've either shared their fate and die, or she should've at least made an effort to convert them to Marco's dogma. It would've been a futile effort, but still, it was just principle.

Since that was the case, it meant that _she_ killed them. She killed all of them.

Damn, now her mind was racing, her stress was rising, and the guilt-

"So, how are you feeling?" At the sudden voice, she looked up, only to find Glossaryck floating over the table on the opposite side from her, in his usual meditative-esque stance. She gaped at him in surprise, and the nonplussed being merely shook his head. "Nah, I already know what you're feeling. Or I could guess. Anyway, ask me how _I'm_ feeling."

There were many things that could've happened. This god (her father which had _created_ her) could have been on the wrong end of a fight right then and there in a variety of scissors and/or fire-related ways. He would most likely be unaffected, but she would've _tried_ to kill him because she felt like blaming him for everything that'd happened. Another course of action would be to lose her shit and just yell at him until she got hoarse-… this was the same guy who was pretending to have regressed into a dumb animal and all of a sudden he was back into his old ways. She was too emotionally worn-out to be doing any of these things, however, and settled for humoring him. "Alright. I guess that makes one of us if you know how I'm feeling. How are you feeling?"

"Disappointed." His stomach suddenly growled audibly, and he patted his gut as if to hush it quiet. "Nah, I guess it was just hunger." He snapped his fingers and a pudding cup unexpectedly came into existence in front of him. He helped himself to some, before asking her (with a full mouth) if she wanted some.

"No."

"Okay. More for me." Eating a bit more and actually taking some care in swallowing, he continued. "So… you're here. You said that only I know how you're feeling? I could hazard a guess. You're starting to think that all of your actions were a mistake and you're only doing this to get into Marco's good favor and in the hopes that he loves you. How's that for a guess?"

Hekapoo was a bit tentative in her answer. "Specific. But no." Glossaryck only continued to eat his pudding for a while more, before pointing at her with the spoon that he'd just cleaned off with his mouth.

"Shame. I'm usually a pretty good guesser. Well, what if I were to guess that you're afraid of this procedure that Eclipsa proposed and that it could backfire and kill you because you're primarily a magic being that depends on magic for almost everything including her life?" He was right again, and they both knew it. She denied his answer once more, and this slightly upset him.

"Well, how would you know?" he grumbled sarcastically, "You don't know what you're feeling… isn't that what you said? And if you don't know, then you can't refuse my answers as being wrong. Since you can't tell me that they're wrong, then that means that they're right. Right?"

Man, she'd always hated how he used psychology and logic to win arguments. It was novel of him to be like this instead of being a know-it-all god who knew their answers 'just because', like how Omnitraxus was. Temporarily barring her own personal affairs out of the contention, she decided to move on to a more worthwhile topic. "Aren't you going to get involved? Maybe try to kill us? Avenge Rhombulus and Moon and all the rest?"

Glossaryck smiled in a way that only he could as he pointed at the Rook symbol on her neck. "Do you know about that mark on your neck?"

"The castle?" She'd only discovered it this morning.

"Technically, it's called a 'Rook', but whatever. If you must know what I'm doing, then you should know that I'm not involved, not anymore at least. Only the pawns fight, and the veto ones are the ones that are still left on the board. I admit, my side of the board is rather scant…" He started to scrape the sides of the pudding cup to eke out what was left. "But the truth is, while my brother cared about winning, I don't. I'm all for letting things happen. That's basically order versus chaos right there, am I right?"

"I blame this whole magic fiasco on YOU!"

"I know. I created the Wellspring, I created the Commission to make sure that magic wouldn't be abused, and I was willing to teach the princesses how to use magic and I helped to spawn the tools needed to wield magic. But consider this… Everyone had a choice in what they did. The M.H.C. had a choice in how they did their jobs, the princesses had a choice to refuse the wand and tradition, and everyone was ordinary… simply because they wanted to use magic to be _extraordinary_. They truly weren't. I didn't force anyone to do anything, never have, and never will. In that same line…" He paused to eat the final helping of the pudding before continuing, "you can't blame me for their deaths, and you don't have to hold yourself accountable. Everything is everyone's joint effort." A garbage bin suddenly materialized next to them on the ground, and he tossed his empty cup and spoon into it. Snapping his fingers once, another cup of pudding with a spoon on top spawned in front of him, and just as Hekapoo was expecting her father to rip into it as well, he instead pushed it over towards her. The gesture wasn't lost on her, and before she could shout at him that she didn't want it, she involuntarily blinked her eye and he was gone by the time it reopened.

Figures. It was just like him to do that. The only proof that he had been there was the fact that both her pudding and the garbage bin was still there. She had a feeling that she knew what the bin was for, but was still unsure how to address it. Not knowing what to do next, she decided to have the pudding after all.

It was good.

 **vVv**

 **-In the next chapter, we're gonna see a bit of Star and as for my plans regarding her, a shout-out of thanks to Useful76. Also, we should see a bit more Hekapoo drama as she confronts the bin. Lol, it's not a fight, but the reason behind it was heavily hinted in Glossaryck's argument. He seemed unusually literal, but I labored and actually put in a bunch of layers to that shit.**

 **-And so, the underdog Higgs pulls ahead in the race that has been low-key dominated by Hekapoo. Who wins? Will both win? Will any win?**

 **-In case anyone needed help figuring it out, here are some Present Character Alignments based on actions AND mindsets:**

 **Marco - Chaotic Good, Neutral Evil**

 **Star - Neutral**

 **Hekapoo - Lawful Neutral**

 **Higgs - Chaotic Good**

 **Toffee - Lawful Evil**

 **Eclipsa - Neutral Evil**

 **-Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you thought and about what you think needs patching.**

 **Valete omnes,**

 **MRAY 4TW.**


	26. Prayer (to Whom?)

**Vestiges**

 **Hey. So, season four (and ultimately, the series) has come to a close. :(**

 **Got lots of unresolved things, the climax was rushed, and Marco got frickin' stabbed in the gut by a (dark) unicorn that was also unexplained, only for him to panic about the wound that no longer existed, and… shit. We waited a long time, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm more disappointed than satisfied. I liked it, but we all could tell that this was rushed. Why? Why did they treat us like this? Don't we as the loyal fans for YEARS deserve _better_? You know what? FUCK that ending. **

**As per my tardy updating schedule, I guess I was stalling to see how much my fic deviated from what the show had planned and done and I'm happy that it wasn't that much. And well, the magic's gone. Good riddance, I guess, 'cause that means points for me. And there's a bunch of Youtube theory videos cropping up (a video analyzing Toffee's actions that helped set this into motion by 'The Next Big Thing' channel, to be specific) that pretty much affirms everything I've had in my notes since the end of season three. Maybe Toffee had only been an anti-hero after all. Oh well. All the fandom has left is fanfiction and fanart.**

 **In any case, it's time to subtly remind you all that this is an AU fic…**

 ** _-…Meanwhile, in an alternate universe…-_**

 **Read that again. Let it sink in. And… done. Like** ** _magic_** **. See what I did there? Anyway, don't forget to drop a review if you like the chappie.**

 **26.**

Taking in a deep breath, she let it out in a deliberate sigh, glad that the air of the No Man's Land dimension didn't settle like crap inside her lungs. Still not feeling relaxed enough, Hekapoo repeated the breathing exercise and unintentionally made the flame betwixt her horns grow larger and blaze hotter. The immortal herself wasn't feeling conscious of this until she noticed that Marco was staring at it, finally became uncomfortably aware of the fire that was already dangerously close to the awning overhead. Before mentally conditioning the flame to subside, however, she observed how Marco appeared… hypnotized?

No, not hypnotized. He just had that thousand-yard stare as if he was now recalling a faraway memory but while she had the idea that it was specific to Mewni, she didn't quite know if he was thinking of it fondly, or rather as an open-eyed nightmare.

"What'cha thinking about?" Hekapoo asked almost inaudibly.

Bringing himself to look her in the face, he gestured up at her flame. "I never did get to tell you 'thanks' for ... um… back when I was locked up. Thanks for taking care of me. I really appreciate it. I know you didn't have to but… yeah." He made the moment awkward just for sounding like that, but Hekapoo smiled. No matter how rugged he got or how old he really was, he was still just a nerd, just like Higgs always said.

"I've done it before," the demigoddess said offhandedly, a slight slur giving her voice a bit of a drunken accent. "Back when you were trying to earn dimensional scissors-…" She stopped talking when he suddenly got up from his seat and moved closer to sit in the chair adjacent. To her surprise, he hugged her tightly; it was a tenderness that she returned in kind. "Not that I mind the sudden display of affection, but why?"

"I remember this feeling," Marco said lowly, "but not just from back then. It was recent too. The guards outside my cell were always talking shit about you, about how 'you liked me' this, and how 'you helped me' that. But the one thing that always got to me was how they kept chatting about how Omnitraxus zapped me into space, and you threatened him and went out into space to save me. I wasn't awake when that stuff happened, but I know that it's supposed to be airless in space, and cold. If someone like me can last thirty seconds in space, then you would only last about twenty, 'cause you need more oxygen. You need your _fire_ to in order to live.."

Hekapoo was silent.

"It was worse for you, but you still risked your life for me. I wasn't awake as I said before, but I knew you were close by." He hugged her even tighter, practically snuggling with her at this point. "I could _feel_ you." He missed seeing her drunken blush darken her daisy cheeks in a pleasant red tint as she thought about what he meant, but she got even more shy at what he said next, "it was kinda comforting."

"Comforting?"

Now, it was his turn to get shy. "Yeah. It felt just like back on my trial when we were in the tundra. I liked it."

"You did?" Hekapoo asked rhetorically. She knew what kind of fire he was talking about. It was rather ironic, she thought, that he liked that particular heat. How would he react if he knew where that fire actually came from? Hesitating only once, she gently took his hand and rested it against her bosom. Neverminding the fact that his hand was on her breasts, she could feel his hand tense up in her grasp and she smiled to let him know it was alright. Sensing that he was calming down, Hekapoo then waited patiently for him to make the observation she expected.

"Why does it feel like-…" Marco paused, trying to figure out why the demigoddess' heart was like this. The beat wasn't monotonous and certainly wasn't regular, either. Instead, it was fluctuating and beat to the sounds of what felt like… hammers striking in a forge? Shovels feeding coal to the grates? It even felt like the sound of weapons and tools being made in a hearth? "It doesn't feel like it's just beating? It feels like it's **working** _._ In fact, it sounds like when you're making dimensional scissors." Marco said in confusion.

"That's what created the fire you like so much. I call it my 'furnace'. It's supposed to be a heart but it doesn't feel like one, huh?" Hekapoo asked dejectedly. "Another one of dear old dad's practical jokes. You know what? Never mind."

"What?" Marco was flummoxed by the woman's mood swing. It felt as if she was about to make a point but suddenly derailed from it. He didn't even know what that point actually was- all she had successfully done was to make him confused. "Come on, talk to me. What are you trying to say?"

"I'm a goddamn _freak_ …!" Hekapoo yelled suddenly, heavy with frustration. "I'm as white as chalk, I sound like I've got a damn coal-burning engine for a heart, there are two **fucking** horns sticking up out of my head and I'm a lav-alcoholic!"

The Black King raised his eyebrows in confusion and mortification at the unexpected (confessional?) outburst. He was unsure of how to react and said the first 'Marco-ish' thing that came to mind. "You being a lava alcoholic's not exactly news. You know… especially after how you tried to kill Higgs fifteen minutes ago," The glare she gave him in response let him know that he had just put his whole effing foot in his mouth. "Uhh, sorry about that. I… uhh…" Marco searched desperately for an excuse to save face, "I didn't know you felt _bothered_ by this."

"So what? Because I've had thousands of years to get used to it?" She asked, her tone now dangerous. He could tell that she was about to rant — that much was obvious. She could be as temperamental as a shrew and he knew better than to pick up an argument with her especially whenever she got like this. Even worse, she could take out her anger on him; besides that, any conflict between groupmates was going to be detrimental to the calling they had. Before he could calm her, however…— much to his surprise—... she did so herself.

"Maybe I'm overthinking this," she mumbled. "But hear me out. If I stopped getting magic from the Wellspring and swore myself to you, do you think that I'd change?"

"Change? Change how? You mean look different?" Marco asked rhetorically, "I'm not sure. Sienna didn't change."

"I wasn't born naturally like her, born with a choice! I was birthed in its waters," Hekapoo insisted. "On top of that, being cut off from the magic could kill me! And I gotta have all of my powers since you're going need my help to fight Omnitraxus!" Almost immediately, she went off on another tangent. "But you said that you're going to be immortal soon, so maybe I should keep my immortality too so that we can be together… Wait…" She shook her head, not even noticing that she'd just offhandedly confessed to Marco, who was giddy from a mixture of happiness and embarrassment. "Since I'm still connected to the Wellspring, I'm sterile." Her face fell. "I can't have children."

"Whoa, slow down!" Marco admonished, finally bringing himself to speak again. "You're not making any sense."

Hekapoo stopped, took a well-needed breather to think. She was a kitchen-sink of emotions, utterly mentally drained and not knowing what her choice should be. "I have some hard decisions to make, Marco. This choice couldn't possibly be any shittier, believe me."

He'd grasped that much. However, despite his heightened capacity for learning being opened up by Appendaxuz months prior, he still understood too little of what she'd just said. Before he could get her to explain, a portal opened up close by; Marco noted that there wasn't any shaking or tremblings in the earth, meaning that the person using the scissors was doing so by using their own vitality. He was actually hoping that it was Eclipsa. Higgs, ever since their return a few hours ago, had started dropping the word 'cougar' around the demigoddess. One spilled lav-alcohol bottle, a heated argument about Hekapoo being a 'fucking drunk', a couple of dozen poorly-aimed fireballs and an earthquake later, Sienna had decided to just solo a mission to avoid Hekapoo for the rest of the day. _'I'll be back by nightfall'_ , she'd said, though Marco was left wondering if that would be long enough before it was safe enough to show her face again.

Eclipsa and Toffee emerged from the portal (much to Marco's relief), and woman of the pair looked about the landscape that was even more scarred than the usual, with smoke still rising from black-burned rubble. "Marco, dare I ask why?" she said pointedly. "And since Hekapoo has the time and energy to spare on foolishness like this, I take it that she's sworn to you already?"

"Actually…-"

"I haven't," the demigoddess interrupted, not wanting Marco to speak for her. "No, that's not it. I'm… _undecided_."

"This isn't something for you to treat so trivially." Toffee's rebuke was stern, and gave no margin, "You either do or don't. Regardless, if you don't, then you are of **no** use."

"That's pretty harsh to say," Marco remarked. Marco wasn't the one being disrespected and considering how Sienna had insulted her and how Hekapoo had been beating herself up, even he was starting to feel personally attacked. Toffee threw the King a look of contempt and advanced his verbal aggression into something more understated and contemptuous.

"Of course. Regardless, she should know that a rook that doesn't move has zero value. They only serve as a liability, and liabilities have no place with _us_." Hekapoo gazed at the Septarian with disdain, as if he were nothing but a nasty mess that she had stepped in.

"Keep talking like that, you suicidal **shit** , and I'll char your blue scaly ass **black** until it looks better."

For a second, Toffee was prepared to let the insult slide; he was used to resentment and not getting people to listen to him like they used to. The uppity demigoddess standing in front of him was just another one. He didn't have to stoop to her level.

Then the second passed.

"We still need to get to the Wellspring." Toffee said pointedly, before snarling uncharacteristically. "Would you kindly open the next portal, _Demigoddess of Interdimensional Travel?_ " Hekapoo faltered when she heard this, knowing that she couldn't open the portal. "Do it. We're waiting."

Hekapoo looked as if she was about to say something-… something witty, something disrespectful, something intimidatory. Nothing came. Knowing that she couldn't, she instead turned her back and walked away. Marco yelled after her, but she ignored his calls. In a fit, Marco turned on Toffee but before he could chew him out, Toffee kept up his verbal passive-aggression.

"If you tell me that I was wrong or lying, then we've already failed because you're not pragmatic or fair. If you acknowledge that I was right, then you know that if we kill her, an immortal demigoddess fueled by magic, we can buy even more time while we carve out the portals with scissors by ourselves. What say you?"

Marco stared at him as he took the scissors from him. "You're a dick." Eclipsa, who'd been silent for a long time as she watched the proceedings, frowned and went off in search for the Rook.

 **=X=X=**

"He said what?!" Hekapoo couldn't believe it. No, wait… she _could_ believe it. She could practically see him saying it. "Kill me just to buy time?! That lizard fuck! What did Marco say to him?"

Eclipsa delayed a bit, wondering as to how was the best way to put it. "Marco… um… he _disagreed_. You _are_ going to undertake the ritual, aren't you? I came to ask. We have a lot riding on you."

Hekapoo squinted her visible eye at the Eclipsa, her sarcastic streak kicking in. "Because you're such a mindful queen, huh?" She paused for a moment and twitched horribly as a not-so-nice thought came to her. "What if Marco considered that Toffee was right?"

"Oh, calm down. He didn't."

"You don't **know**!" Hekapoo exploded. "I watched him killed Janna, and she was his friend! I watched as he ran her through with his sword, so you don't **know** if he didn't think about it for even a second!"

"She was pulling on the remaining magic to return to life when she had been killed by an Order! Her case was unique-!" Eclipsa tried to argue, but Hekapoo would have none of it; her exasperation had reached its peak. After the silence of a few minutes of silent drinking, her intelligence and psyche were, at last, being dulled by the alcohol she was indulging in and made up her mind to solve at least one of her problems. "Magic is life and life is magic, right? I wonder how much my immortality is worth? At least a hundred thousand sentient lives. Maybe a million? More, even?"

"All life is equal," the queen said with a high degree of sagacity, though it sounded hollow as if she herself didn't quite believe it. Noticing that something was off, Hekapoo asked the woman what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong," was all she would say, and clamped her mouth shut. The demigoddess brushed it off as nothing before going on to make her point.

"Anyway, the way I see it, there's a dimension or two that I could sever from the Wellspring. We'd be able to use magic for a long time, and more importantly, we could get to the magic dimension a lot easier-" In an instant, Eclipsa had slapped her companion right across her face, hard enough to leave a red handprint on her cheek. Hekapoo stared at Eclipsa in shock and pain before screaming at her unintelligibly that the queen was a crazy bitch.

"If I'm mad? If I'm MAD?!" the Queen fumed back. "As if you don't hear your own _damn_ insanity!" It was one of the extremely rare times when she was pushed to the point of swearing, and the woman had reacted in righteous anger. "You'd kill an entire dimension just so you can pursue a relationship with Diaz?"

"As if you're so innocent. You sold out Mewni to live with a monster," Hekapoo shot back, the liquor slurring her voice. "So you of all people should understand what I'm going through. And I'm not killing anyone. I'm just cutting the connection from the Wellspring, only until we're done. I can fix it when we're done, easy-peasy-"

"That is **not** how it works! Shut up. Just… shut up!"

Hekapoo glared at the woman in anger, upset that her lie had been seen through. "Alright, fine. So the dimension would end up going down the bloody toilet! But none of you can manage to open a portal up here because the magic cost is so high! You don't even have a clear mental picture of the next dimensions in the series! You're all lost without me so that gives me the most important role to play… and I say that I _need_ to tank a dimension!"

Eclipsa was bitterly furious. "Defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Destroying the multiverse in order to save it? And what if the others should hear about this? What if Marco finds out about this? There's only so much he can take before even he decides that you're going too far!" Hekapoo didn't rise to answer immediately, but soon had a response that the Queen didn't expect.

"You've got the highest affinity to magic besides me, and if anything, you'd be the one to open portals using your _life_. Tell you what… hand over Marco's scissors." As soon as she presented them, Hekapoo grabbed them before flaring up a flame over the tool briefly and then returned it. "The next portal you open will be to the next dimension in No Man's Land. Why don't you try it, hmm?"

The scissors still warm in her hand, Eclipsa dawdled in uncertainty. At first, she realized the importance of Hekapoo's challenge; if she failed to open the portal, it'd mean that she (Eclipsa) was wrong. More importantly, it'd mean that Hekapoo was right and that they would need to destroy a dimension just to progress. The scissors seemed to grow heavier and The Queen of Darkness could tell that the enchantment on the scissors was extreme.

"You gonna do it or not?"

There was an astronomical amount of difference between risking her life to prove a point…- and risking her life to try to safeguard hundreds of thousands, if not millions and billions of lives who would never even know that their lives were in danger because of a mere _challenge_.

Eclipsa steeled herself and started to open a portal. She felt the familiar tug of her own quintessence being used to power the magic requirements necessary, mild at first. The scissors cut into the air as they always did and Eclipsa began to feel the drain, then terrified when she realized that her own life was bleeding into the scissors from the effort. In a single second, the small amount of skin exposed between her sleeve and her gloves now showed the dark taint to display that it was spreading, but she barely noticed that in between her gasps for breath before she collapsed, the scissors slipping from her slackened fingers.

In her dimming vision, she saw her portal of only one-inch diameter snap close again, and Hekapoo making some remark, probably a callous one, but Eclipsa didn't hear it.

"She's gone," the demigoddess realized, noticing that her companion had blacked out. "Damn, I was actually hoping that she'd be able to do it, but it's still too much anybody else." She hefted up the unconscious woman as best as she could to rest her into a chair. "Guess I'm doing this then, huh? Gonna need her help, though." Hekapoo grasped that this was a bad situation and a bad hand to play, but she was tired of being useless and being called out for it. There was also the fact that Omnitraxus could also destroy a dimension just to achieve this same effect, but he hadn't. Didn't that mean that he was in the right, and she was wrong since he hadn't already defected to this option?

This was where Marco had been. This was the position that Marco had lived in; having being made out to be evil, being accused of being evil. Here she was, ready to doom millions of people to an unfathomable demise and all because she wasn't quite ready to give up her immortality.

"I'm evil. We all are, aren't we?"

Glossaryck had granted her leave from the Magic High Commission, but she was still being forced to make the hard decisions.

The worst part, however, was that she'd made this hard decision before.

…

…

Eclipsa began to stir awake and coughed weakly into her palm, trying to gather her bearings. "Oh, Gods. That was-…" her eyes widened when she saw that her gloved hand was heavily speckled with blood and panicked. Checking herself hastily, she realized that had lost even more of her life trying to open the portal, and losing far more in five seconds than she'd lost in years of using powerful magic. She peeled back her sleeves to examine her arms, lifted her skirt to check her legs and looked down her collar only to discover that everything was darkened in most cases, and covered in horrendous zig-zags along her blood vessels in others.

"Um… before you strip any further to check out the damage," her lone companion quipped as she poured out a drink into a cup before she put the bottle to her lips and tilted it back—… very far back. She then pushed the cup forward to Eclipsa, offering it to her. "I'm still in here so have some decency. By the way, in case you need to forget… I've got a bottle of Forget-Me- _YES_ right here."

Eclipsa paid the lava-alcohol no mind. "You're not a very nice person, Hekapoo," the irate woman remarked, upset that she had lost. She'd gotten a glimpse of what had been bothering the demigoddess all day and understood why she'd regressed back into a liquor bottle.

"Aww… I was sharing," the Rook mumbled before her expression softened. "Here's what's happening. I might not be able to nerve myself up to do it if this dimension doesn't absolutely-positively (-hiccup-) deserve it. I want you to go there and find ten people. Just _ten_ goodpeople. Just use your head to determine if they're redeemable or not."

"No tests to see if they're evil? I've heard about that nonsense in the M.H.C.," Eclipsa said with a harrumph. She easily recalled how the Magic High Commission had ridiculous methods for determining if people were evil or not. "And _why_ should I do this? Why not pick someone else? Higgs is more likeminded to you and less troubled by her conscience. Even Toffee, since he's _pragmatic_." The emphasis in this course was clear, and wasn't even very true in particular; Toffee was just willing to do anything so that he'd be able to get what he wanted later.

"Sienna and I aren't on speaking terms right now." Hekapoo shrugged as she stared at her half-drunken bottle, "and you already know that Toffee and I are obviously **not** getting along. Before you ask… I don't want Marco EVER finding out about this. I'd never hear the end of it… and he might not ever look at me the same again."

"I see. You're the kind of wretch who likes to hide things, hmm?"

"Wretch?" Hekapoo parroted dumbly, her voice notably cracked. "That's beside the point. Just find ten people. If you can, I won't be liable to waste that shithole of a dimension for their sakes." Eclipsa glared at Hekapoo, wondering if she was being set up for another challenge.

"I'll find a hundred."

" **Ten** is good enough," Hekapoo repeated intently as she tuned the scissors again that would alter the next portal Eclipsa opened before tossing it to her. "Take care… the folks there are liable to turn your asshole into a slack cavity if you so much as say 'hello' to them. Don't wander into lonely places, don't take solicitations, that sort of thing. Time dilation isn't working separately in the multiverse anymore, so… I guess I can give you three or four hours. That's plenty for the both of us."

Grasping the wand tightly, Eclipsa pondered the wisdom of her next action. She could scarcely comprehend that she was about to carry out this undertaking-… no, she could. Evil was spelled as 'necessary'. It was returning to stab her in the back, although she still refused to acknowledge that Moon had been right. Eclipsa still had little to lose; all she had to find was just under a dozen people to prove that an entire dimension was worth saving. Besides her conscience screaming at her about how she didn't have the authority to decide who was good or evil, there was also the concern that this could happen again. This was for their first obstacle… who was to say that this wouldn't happen again when they needed more magic to breach another dimension in No Man's Land later on?

Wait…

Eclipsa whipped around to Hekapoo, already drunk yet still continued to fall further into the bottle. "You've done this before? Destroying dimensions?"

Hekapoo didn't answer at first, still having the barest of mental cognition to realize what she was being asked. Soon enough, however, she ended up replying; fuck the consequences. "We have. The M.H.C on a whole, I mean. This whole situation that we're in… it's not something new, and especially not new to me. We obliterate a couple when this kind of destabilization in the multiverse happens. Overpopulation. We cut off some of the _excess_ weight, then we recreate another one to keep the multiverse stable, give some people from the luckier dimensions a couple of scissors… then…" She trailed off, trying to pull her inebriated thoughts together but not noticing that Eclipsa was only being more horrified and repelled the more she heard. "They eventually go _exploring_ to find new land, unoccupied land, adventuring, treasure hunting, whatever reason drives them. Couple thousand years, maybe ten thousand if we're lucky before the cycle repeats itself. Gotta wipe out another dimension, start all over. Start ALL OVER." Hekapoo swung her bottle around a little, swirling the liquid around inside. "You don't really have long, Queenie. You'd better get going…" The demigoddess looked up when she didn't hear a response. "Eclipsa?"

Eclipsa was already gone.

…

…

"Are you alright? You seem… diminished, somehow."

"I'm alright." Toffee scoffed to himself, not believing the dark Queen. He had been nursing his hurt pride by himself in the gazebo-of-sorts that Eclipsa had made earlier when she'd walked past, obviously distressed somehow. Normally, he wouldn't have paid much attention due to what they had witnessed earlier when hunting around for Omnitraxus, but the woman was physically troubled as well. She labored for her breath, and her face had gone as white as a sheet. Additionally, a portion of her teal-colored hair had gone gray in the short time she had been with Hekapoo but he decided against bringing it up. "Really, I'm alright."

"Clearly not. Have you eaten anything besides your paltry breakfast?" He knew that hunger made her weak but she shook her head to say that this wasn't the case.

"I have to find… _good_ people to prove that a dimension is worth saving." She thought that the revelation would come across as shocking, yet, it wasn't. As per the usual, Toffee appeared nonplussed.

"So, I finally pushed her that far, eh?" To her credit, Eclipsa didn't react much and it only went to show how emotionally and mentally drained she was. "Before you ask… it wasn't entirely **manipulation**. It was either her life being used to open the portal, or she'd off a dimension or two in order to have enough magic available in the universe to open portals deeper into No Man's Land. In any case, I knew about the practice… I've lost people when they destroyed a dimension that some Septarians were on at the time."

Eclipsa gazed at the Bishop, wanting to ask something, couldn't. Settled on something else, "you wanted her to make this decision…!" Toffee leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table with his fingers interlocked as if he was about proposing a bizarre contention.

"I wanted her to still have all of her powers to fight Ominitraxus. We can't fight him, but she would have an idea how; they're kin, so she could even know his weakness. At the very least, she could at least help the King to overpower him. We had to run. You saw what he did to that Size-Shifter out in the wasteland… those monster are some of the most powerful, but he obliterated it."

" _That_ Size-Shifter?" Eclipsa spat, hating the general classification that Toffee had used. " _She_ could have been a relative of my husband… she could have been MY DAUGHTER! I was helping Appendaxuz… helping Marco… destroy the Wellspring so that my husband will be freed from his crystal prison but at the cost of losing my child?!"

"Be sensible. There was naught we could do about that monster," Toffee argued, "and we still don't know if the size-shifter is any relative of his, or of yours. Besides, he didn't kill it; he only teleported it away someplace." Toffee didn't mention that Omnitraxus usually got rid of his foes by exiling them into the far reaches of space where they would suffocate if they needed to draw breath, or simply die frozen if they were the more eccentric and exotic creatures in the multiverse who didn't need sustenance or oxygen.

Eclipsa looked about ready to collapse.

"Take heart," Toffee comforted, reluctantly allowing a fake smile to cross his face simply for her sake. "You might see her again when this is all over. You, her, your husband…" The woman regarded the septarian with eyes that exhibited skepticism, making the lizard raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Humph. You're not the heartless, coldblooded monster that everyone made you out to be."

"Sad to inform you otherwise; I _undeniably_ am the heartless, coldblooded monster that everyone believes I am. I mean what I said." He got up from his seat, not wanting to waste any more time. With his height, he easily looked down on her but instead of being intimidatory, Toffee seemed… protective? Perhaps like a child taking the time to regard the insects they usually stepped on, and helping one out for once. "You will see them again, be it in this life or the next."

There was a bit more weighty emphasis on her being successful. He was genuine in his words, and she realized, with shame, that Toffee had a family of his own long ago. She was hurting now but despite his advanced regeneration and immortality, ironically, he'd been aching for prolonged centuries. Eclipsa smiled sadly as she averted her gaze from Toffee but seeing the empty vastness of the dimension in No Man's Land reminded her of the task at hand.

How unoccupied it was. Devoid of life, save for a few fiendish monsters that were deterred by Marco's murderous aura, or were already killed.

"I almost forgot. I was supposed to find some people. Find… _good_ people to prove that the dimension is worth saving."

"It's a win-win either way." Toffee grunted as he watched her open a portal; the magic entryway appearing blood-red, a hitherto unseen feature. "If we find enough poor souls worth existing, your conscience will remain clean. If not, then we simply get to watch some scum perish for the sake of everyone else who is worthy of life."

Toffee had a way of looking at things in his own idiosyncratic and pragmatic way and this time, Eclipsa accepted it. Easily recalling how she nearly came close to dying earlier, she realized how disastrous it'd be for a _mortal_ Hekapoo to open portals leading to the Wellspring (ten times!). Furthermore, Toffee was right. There would be a far bigger benefit to keeping an immortal Hekapoo around, especially if she could help fend off Omnitraxus when he would eventually encounter them.

Then again, there was her husband and someday… finding her daughter, even if it was her that Eclipsa had helplessly watched get blasted by Omnitraxus's magic. If she was dead… then avenging her.

Eclipsa could scarcely believe it, and she couldn't even trust herself to say it. Toffee, however, saw that the queen wanted to say something and kept hesitating. It was an easy guess what it was, however.

"For the sake of your conscience, despite the fact that we're about to commit a complete dimensional genocide… I hope we don't find any good people either." With that, they entered the portal and closed it behind them.

 **=X=X=**

It had a little over two dozen tentacles, each as massive as the trunks of full trees and slithered like independent muscly snakes. The main body was barely unstructured from which the tentacles extended, a rigid spine with no apparent rib-supported skeleton. It was like a badly-deformed squid, only it had a large grin full of serrated fangs coated with bluish-black saliva that dripped as it snarled. One of its tentacles brushed over a rivulet of blood, and the squid-like creature stopped its advance.

It ran the tentacle deeper into the blood and diverted its trail to follow the now-stagnant blood canal. It soon came upon the corpse of another slain monster, one of its own kind. Not seeing or simply not caring, its tentacles started latching to whatever it could and tearing apart the carcass with its limbs. As it tore, it ate, ripping into its dead brethren without abandon. The body was only a bit smaller from slight decomposition and limpness, yet the monster managed to break down to scraps and nearly consumed it all. Leaving behind little more than a darkened bloodstain where the worthless topsoil had turned into foul mud, the monster continued its approach, seemingly attracted to one thing, and a lone teen stood between that objective and the massive creature.

"I'm Death," Marco said to the creature as much as to himself, "and you're permitted to exist in this dimension. Anywhere _else_." It, due to its lack of ears, did not hear him and Marco doubted that it would heed him even if it did. This was due to the fact that almost every creature respected and feared death when they came into contact with his aura, yet this species of monstrous squid lacked a sense of basic self-preservation. He'd killed them whenever they came, and this was getting bothersome.

Wait, that wasn't right. It wasn't that they lacked the sense to want to stay alive. They kept heading in the direction that Hekapoo's large tent was in as if they were attracted to her or something else within and the magnetic bearing was stronger. He couldn't comprehend why. He decided to kill it and ask Hekapoo herself later; she had thousands of winters behind her, so she was bound to know why.

" ** _That saith the King… Quod Inquit Rex…"_** he intoned, his cheek crescents glowing green as he drew out his sword and swung it horizontally. "REND!"

A visible arc of green light, vivid in the dusk of the day, flashed out of the sword and bisected the monster cleanly through its flesh and bones. Blood spurted through its back as the attack continued, starting from ten meters in width and grew with distance traveled. It sliced through a few more monsters a couple of miles away who were keeping their distance and from the sounds of things, Marco guessed that he'd cut through the distant mountains as well like a hot laser. Satisfied that he'd killed and scared off all the monsters heading to the camp, he held up his sword to observe it. It was now in even worse condition, new cracks forming and wide gaps in the edge. The nicks had widened out into large notches as if he'd been using the sword like a hoe in a field full of rocks.

Marco kissed his teeth whilst returning the damaged sword back to its sheath and turned to enter Hekapoo's tent, leaving the flaps open to allow outside light to illuminate the interior. She was the first thing he saw, lying on her belly. She didn't react to his entry; he guessed that she was sleeping, especially given her natural poise with her limbs slightly apart spread-eagled. In light of these, the most outstanding factor of her state was that she was unclothed, her skin laid bare with her voluminous fiery hair in a red swathe to the side. Her flame, a constant in motion, continued its burning at the peak where the horns and the scarlet began at the crown of her head.

He didn't move. Marco's breathing slowed, his wide eyes revering her. Her timeless marble-complexioned body, though a bit stocky by nature, was buxom and well defined with contours that had been implied—… yet hidden…— by her usual gown. He stood there staring, committing details to memory zealously but ashamedly. After too long, he heard what sounded like giggling, making him panic. Before he could back out through the exit behind him, she roused herself to sit up before him, bracing herself by propping herself up with her arms behind her. Her legs were _ever so slightly_ apart, and Marco found himself struggling to keep his eyes above the threshold of her neck. This was both out of respect and shame, shame for having only stared and not tried to cover her up or simply leaving her to rest.

Then he was brought back to the fact that she was laughing. Her cheeks were dyed by crimson hues, and her lone visible eye was full of lackluster amusement. Marco's nose, now no longer being fully ignored, detected the scent of the demigoddess's favorite alcohol.

"You see," Hekapoo said at last, "the Mewmans have a law. See a girl naked, the guy's gotta marry her." Despite having realized that she was drunk, Marco still got roped into the woman's guileful topic.

"I wouldn't know about that, but I do know two things for _sure_. We're not Mewmans, and you're not a stickler for Mewni's laws anyway."

"True, true." Hekapoo nodded slowly, so languidly that anyone would start to think that she was drifting off to sleep. "So… you were there staring at me for a while. I have to know something…"

Now, he was sure that he didn't want to hear what she was about to say but prompted her anyway. "Know what?"

"Are you an ass man, or a tits guy?" Marco flinched as if he'd been hit in the face and as if Hekapoo didn't notice how uncomfortable he now was (or simply didn't care), she lifted her right hand to her bust and closed fingers around her breast, slowly circling it to massage it. Marco's blush had long since taken over his entire head, and he clenched his eyes shut, trying to calm himself before his arousal was made too obvious.

He took a deep breath, and finally steadied himself. "Hekapoo, you're drunk." After a few more seconds, he finally re-opened his eyes, only to see that her legs were now well open, far apart to allow him to see _everything._

Again, he stared, much too ostensibly and a second too long for his own good. The demigoddess grinned widely in her self-satisfaction, having gotten the reaction that she'd wanted. "Hey, looks like Little Marco isn't _little_ anymore…!"

Marco's jaw dropped, realizing that his erection had been made apparent. At this point, now humiliated, he turned on his heel abruptly quickly started walking out of the tent. Seeing that she had driven him away, it was now Hekapoo's turn to feel adverse to her own actions, grasping what she'd done.

"Wait, Marco!" Getting to her feet quickly, she used her famous speed and grabbed his arm in an instant. Feeling her grip and knowing that he could very easily shrug it off, he was about to but instead paused. He'd already lost a lot of face and his own self-respect; on the other hand, he had the distinct feeling that he'd lose out on a lot more if he fled. Gritting his teeth, he went as far as to close up the tent's zipper with his free hand. That way, it'd reassure her that he would stay and to furthermore darken the interior of the tent so much that he'd be unable to see her anymore. She let go of him when he finally turned to face her, only to realize that he'd forgotten about her intrinsic flame that continually burned at the top of her head.

The fire bathed her in a glow almost as warm as itself. As appropriate to its angle and much to Marco's relief, while dimly lighting up the tent, everything south of the mid-slope of Hekapoo's breasts was shadowed and kept from any further exhibition.

It was silent for a while before the Diaz ultimately had to urge her to speak. "So… what?"

Her visible eye was downcast in shame. "I'm sorry for hassling you like that. I just wanted to know if you still found me attractive."

Marco blinked. He didn't really know how this came about, but he had been aware of Hekapoo's recent dwindling self-esteem about her appearance because of their talk earlier that day. Understanding that both making compliments and asking questions as to why she felt this way was now out the window, he told her the truth. "I always have. But there was no need to show yourself off like that!"

"You're the one who came in," Hekapoo said simply, shooting down his weak argument and reminding him that he was the one originally wrong. "You could have left, but you stayed. When I sensed that you were in here, I woke up. You stayed in here like a perverted brat. But…" She, at last, looked up at him and smiled. "I'm glad you did. But why'd you come inside my tent for, anyway? I know you better than that… you wouldn't come in here if you knew that I didn't have anything on."

At this point, despite her being naked and it fast becoming normal to her and temporarily forgotten to him, Marco carried the conversation naturally. "I wanted to know why the squid monsters keep targeting your tent."

"The ones with that look like they're grinning?" Hekapoo asked in a way to suggest that she already knew why. "They attack uncertainty. Those things prey on creatures that are unsure and rickety in the head. They can telepathically sense this kinda thing for miles-"

"You're unstable?" Marco inquired, "why?" Too late in recognizing what she'd said, she declined to answer at first but soon gave in with the lesser cause.

"You know the answer. I said that it was because I figured that you didn't find me attractive-"

"Hekapoo." Marco's mouth was tightlipped, a sign that he was impatient, "that doesn't sound like the real reason."

Oh damn really? He chose now of all times to be more perceptive, she pondered to herself with irritation that soon quelled. "No, it's not. I just-…" The woman bit her lower lip, tentative about the subject. "I don't know if I should swear to you or not, Marco! I know that saving the multiverse should come first, but you're going to be immortal soon if you're not immortal already…!"

"What about it?"

Snapping her fingers, she was immediately wreathed in flames before it dissipated, leaving her in her usual attire. Hekapoo then lifted her hand and touched one of her horns with a small measure of distaste. "I can hate my looks as much as I want and whether I keep them or not, I'm glad that you think that I'm beautiful anyhow." Her eyes watered, the visible one was obvious, but her hair over the hidden one was matted, slightly dripping tears from the fringes to her chin. "I'm in love with you Marco, but I have to choose between spending _eternity_ with you by ourselves, or leaving you and our children _behind_."

He understood now. Every piece fell into place now. She loved him. She was insecure about her looks. She was unable to decide if she would love him or their children more. She, his elder by an eternity, had always been alone outside of the M.H.C. and couldn't pursue relationships with mortals. World and cultures apart, she hadn't wanted to fall in love with him, but she had and didn't want any of them to be alone if either of them perished. Frustration and indecisiveness drove her to drink and everyone had poked their salty fingers into her wounds.

He hadn't given much thought about an eternity after saving the multiverse. Instead, it'd mainly been coming to grips that he'd be the embodiment of Death, killing everyone he'd saved one at a time, or leaving them to die natural deaths when appropriate. He'd never thought about being alone.

"Hekapoo, I-…" He choked, reality collided with him, about to grieve for the dead who were yet still alive. "…-I don't want to be _alone_."

Slowly, her arms encircled him, not wanting to chase off the vulnerable boy inside him. They brought him close and hugged him to her. He wanted reassurance, she saw, but knew not the method. Of all the actions she could have taken, perhaps even kissing him and seducing him to the point where he'd passionately yell her name, she only continued to hug him, two lonely immortals under a small forlorn fire.

They remained, long enough to ingrain the idea that though alone by themselves, they weren't in each other's company, even into the end should the multiverse's epilogue come to pass.

"And you won't be. I'm right here," Hekapoo whispered into his ear, before regretfully releasing him. "I'm here."

She dared not say anything more, should she compromise their future when it still hung in limbo. It had been enough. He smiled back at her warmly, and she could tell it was genuine; more than anything, she was glad that he felt better.

"Love you too, H-poo."

Hekapoo smiled in happiness. Leave it to Marco to just admit his feelings so lamely and candidly. "Man, that knight of yours is right. You're such a nerd!"

Scarcely after she said this, the teen heard his name being screamed out. Recognizing the voice, Marco turned around and zipped down the tent hastily and dashed outside, Hekapoo at his heels. There, he saw a portal open, with a battered-looking Higgs standing a bit unsteadily next to it. "Sienna? What's wrong?!"

"It's Star! She's in the Earth dimension!" Before he could even react properly to the news, another (blood-red) portal opened, and Eclipsa and Toffee stepped out, both with serious expressions. The demigoddess cursed to herself bitterly when she saw them, figuring out why Eclipsa had returned. The demigoddess had thought that she had more time.

"We were unsuccessful," Toffee stated, "and Omnitraxus Prime found us there."

Not understanding what was going on but still comprehending the gravity of both situations, Marco struggled to make a choice. Star, his complete opposite in standpoint, or Omnitraxus Prime. Marco guessed that his own expression looked about as confused as Sienna's.

But why did Hekapoo react so much to Toffee's and Eclipsa's arrival, even before they announced what they had to say? Nonetheless, he couldn't deal with both things at once. "Maybe we should all focus on Star-…"

"You go with Higgs!" Hekapoo exclaimed, making his choice for him by slightly pushing him towards his knight while turning to head in the other direction. "I'll go with those two to deal with my brother!" Already making good on her word, she approached the Queen and Bishop and entered the portal they'd come out of and soon, they too also made their exit through it before it ultimately closed. It took a minute more before it registered in his brain that Hekapoo had something going on that he wasn't aware of, but he couldn't focus on that right now. He silently prayed that she'd return safe, knowing how dangerous and powerful Omnitraxus Prime was.

Almost right then and there, he felt a niggle of sadness pass through him. Who, as the god of Death, was he supposed to pray to?


	27. Loathing & Leaves & Lies in (Location?)

**Vestiges**

 **Just before the brawl, gonna take a look at the events leading up to the end of the previous chapter.**

 **L: Part One**

 **Loathing & Leaves** | **Lies in (** **Location?)**

 **27.**

 **=X=X=**

 **Loathing**

"I see. So, if I understand correctly, you wanted to know if the shards in the shard mines are pieces of tramorfidian crystals," the woman said.

"Yeah." Higgs struggled to keep her composure in the tiny room but was unable to do so because her head kept banging against the low ceiling; it cost her some face when speaking to the secretary-type looking pixie on the other side of the table. "I want a **whole** crystal. You should have a few lying around. Isn't this the dimension that makes them? You harvest or mine the shards or whatever it is that you do, and then you process them and condense them into tramorfidian crystals. That's why I came to the source – didn't know anywhere else to go. Could you just give me _one_? Please?"

The pixie looked at the girl with growing interest. She looked strong, strong enough to work. Besides, some of the other 'workers' trying to pay off their bills were slowing down. A small earthquake rumbled on through; the pixie paid little attention to the quakes at this point but the girl was the opposite, having grown more apprehensive with its passing. No matter. She'd get right to the point.

"Tramorfidian crystals don't come cheap, and it takes over a thousand compressed shards to make one…. In case you're not aware, that's a whole lot of labor days down under in the mines and it's getting dangerous with these earthquakes nowadays. If you can't pay for it, you'll have to **work** for it." The pixie took off her glasses and wiped it clean with her blouse tails, making the girl standing painfully aware that her speech-spittle had landed on the pixie's spectacles, and she blushed in embarrassment.

"How much for a crystal then?" In response to her question, the pixie only pointed at a sign to her right with a thumb saying: 'Only Gold and Jewels accepted', all in bold letters. The girl was stupefied. No wonder stealing the crystals had long since been the more logical option. However, she had nowhere else to turn and nowhere else to look. She needed one more for the journey, knowing that Marco claimed that he would need three in all. "Do you take credit?" Higgs asked sarcastically. "Do I look like I'm toting a damn treasure chest around in my pocket?"

The pixie, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance, decided to make the girl's choice for her. Flipping open a panel on her desk and pressing a button beneath, a large trapdoor opened up beneath her latest client. In the brief moment that she hovered in midair, Higgs realized that if she fell into the shard mines, filled with the very stuff that was basically anti-magic, she would never be able to leave using her dimensional scissors.

"Fuuuuuuccck!" she screamed on her way down. Already withdrawing her scissors and trying to open a portal, Sienna wasn't surprised to see that the anti-magic had already taken effect, and she was powerless to escape. Seconds before she belly-flopped the ground below, she grabbed at a nearby inexplicable ladder and nearly yanked her arm out of joint. Yelling bitterly from the pain, she tried climbing back up the ladder which would have led to the trap door, but it only went up halfway. A ladder was redundant to flying pixies, but a short ladder… that was nothing but a sick joke. With a sigh, she returned her scissors to its holster.

Fine. If since there was a way in-… there had to be a way out, even if it wasn't the way out she came. Seeing a nearby guard pixie whipping at some workers, bellowing at them to get to work, Higgs wondered if she could get him to scream just as loud about where the exit was.

With that in mind, she stalked up to him from behind, her loudest action being the barely audible sound of her steel knife sliding out of its leather sheath. For the barest of moments, she recalled the few times she'd once snuck up like this on her targets for assassination back in Dimension X-103. Briefly, she questioned herself whether or not if Marco knew about the acts she'd committed and how it would affect her relationship with him.

'What relationship?' she thought bitterly when she recalled how Hekapoo had chased her off with fireballs earlier that morning for criticizing her drunkenness. 'He loves her more than me. What does he see in her that I don't have? A big rack and ten pounds of ass? Gotta be that, 'cause I'm not seeing anything personality-wise. Can't even open a portal… At this point with no magic, she's a washed-up legend.'

She must've been more disgruntled than she thought because, by the time her knife was lunging forward at the pixie and slicing off his wings, Sienna was nearly mad enough to take out her feelings on the creature that was only doing his job, no matter how despicable it was. Professionals, nonetheless, had standards; Higgs adjusted her mentality to keep her emotions out of her work.

The pixie fell to the ground and began yelling in pain over the loss of his wings, and Higgs smothered more than half his body to the ground with just the palm of her hand, pinning him down before holding the knife to his neck. At his size, the long knife might as well have been a thin, bladed building hovering at his throat. "Tell me how to get out."

She was calm and serious-… she neither asked nor ordered him to answer. Nonetheless, she came off as thoroughly intimidating with her lack of emotion, and her cold green stare sent a shiver down his spine. He still tried his luck, however, taking for granted that she didn't know he was stronger than he looked, strong enough to throw her off. The second he tried, though, she swiftly moved the knife and stabbed it clean through his arm into the ground, cutting it off with almost no effort, blue blood squirting out of his elbow stump.

"Uaagghhh!" Ignoring his screams, she deftly shifted the knife back to his neck and asked the same question again, her only difference was that her hand had shifted slightly upwards to expose more of his lower torso, letting him know that if he tried anything else, he'd lose his legs. "You bitch! You cut my arm off!" Moving the knife to his knees, he started to beg. "Wait, wait! It's out the way you fell in!"

Higgs nearly smiled. "You lot are really funny. Am I supposed to sprout wings and fly up, right after dropping me in here without warning?"

She left him there, deciding it'd be useless to finish him off. He'd bleed out or he would get help but either way, she didn't care about him anymore. Looking around, she spied what looked like a mine car that was stationed close to a horizontal shaft that was labeled 'EXIT' with a large, blinking red neon sign.

Her eye twitched at the absurdity of the situation.

…

As she sped along in the cart, Sienna was still plagued by her thoughts that encircled the idea of Marco ending up with Hekapoo. Sure, she considered the demigoddess a friend but it was fair to admit that she considered her a rival too. "Maybe there's something I can do?" she mumbled. The idea of trying to seduce Marco came to her again and she decided that it only failed because she was in her 'girl' form. Sienna would readily admit that she felt more at home in her young body, even though it could be argued that her older form should've felt more natural. There were more advantages to be had: better body weight balance and fluidity of movement, strength, legal drinking age, being sexier…

All things that would be welcomed by Marco, no doubt. Marco, nonetheless, was in his younger body. He probably felt the same way she did about feeling at home in their teenaged forms.

The girl had additional reasons for wanting her state to match Marco's own. It was the one that had fallen in love with Marco in the first place, and the one that had persisted it no matter how old she got. And with an older body like that, it was a reminder of how she spent almost two decades without him.

Then again, if she had been in her older form, she wouldn't have even suffered a scrape back at her Knighting Ceremony; her disadvantaged younger form had allowed her to be injured that much more easily, and led to the cause and effect of Marco getting captured.

Higgs didn't even stop to consider how Marco would have fared off in that battle if he was in his older body too. She knew the man he would grow up into; he could fend off whatever she could, and more. The powerful strides that left no vulnerabilities. The lean muscles that boasted of superhuman strength and agility. His rugged look with his survivalist skills that had been well earned in his years hunting Hekapoo down.

She'd seen him shower before in his adult state. Her photographic memory served her well here, and her mind didn't even exaggerate anything. There was no need to – he was hung almost like a beast.

Sienna opened her eyes to close off her imagination. She hadn't fallen for him just because of his body; those would be additional perks. Rather, she'd been attracted to his boyish and friendly charms since they ran into each other all those _years_ ago. Back when they were still young by her standards. He never knew how she felt, and she never got a chance to tell him before he was exiled back to the Earth. She'd pined for him all this time.

And now Hekapoo had a claim over him.

In all honesty, Higgs felt that the woman had muscled in all of a sudden and Marco loved her without even dropping a clue why, and it irked her. From all indications and her perspective on things, it was as if Hekapoo had done something to beguile him; Higgs was familiar with love-related magic from her own experiences. Or simple fornication, whichever numbed his mind and flooded him with flared up lust. What good was simply being there for Marco when Hekapoo was probably fucking him when she wasn't around?

In that same respect, Higgs thought sadly to herself as she watched the shards in the tunnel blur by as she traveled in the cart, what had she done to make Marco fall for her?

She and Marco were equals now. He said so. She believed him. She'd kissed him. She found something in him and just _knew_ that a part of him returned some of her feelings.

"Maybe after we save the multiverse and we're hiding out from everyone who's after us, we'll get together and then we'll see where it goes," Sienna mumbled to herself. She didn't believe herself at the least, but somehow when she said it, she felt better.

That's all she needed from all the loathing she was going through.

Finally, the cart started to rise, and Higgs saw a light at the end. The exit was coming up. It rushed closer to meet her, and culminated in the cart making a sudden stop by a gold statue of a pixie ('their actual life-size,' she thought to herself) If the cart hadn't lost most of its velocity by rising upwards, Higgs would've ended up with her head being bashed against the inside of the cart. Looking around, she took note that she was in some sort of throne room; this was made obvious from all of the stateliness all around her, including stray jewels and gold spilling from chests, royal flags that hung from posts and the ceiling, and a queen pixie on a throne with a large crown atop her head, .

'Huh, so this is where the mined stuff ends up? Makes no sense, yet perfect sense all at the same time.'

That was when a sword was poked into her face by a flying pixie guard. As if on his cue, everyone else committed the same, including one brandishing a goddamned chainsaw close to her chest.

Yes, security was an issue. Maybe it wasn't even the first time people had _escaped_ the mines by using the cart. Well damn, what did they expect if it was a liable escape route? 'Fuck,' Higgs thought to herself, of course, there wouldn't be such an easy escape route for the oppressed workers to use.

The blades inched closer, ever more threateningly. "Yeah, that's really cute," Sienna remarked boredly as she tapped her finger on one of the swords and lowered it from out of her face. "Could we _not_ do this? Instead, mind showing me the way out of here? I'd rather just leave without ending the day in pixie genocide. Or possible pixie _regicide_ ," she grumbled the last under her breath. What she said wasn't meant to irritate the pixies who were a single command away from killing her (it did, however), but it was only the girl's mental exhaustion clouding her common sense. The queen pixie gazed at the large interloper in her castle and took note of how clean they were; she obviously wasn't one of their slaves or wasn't one for more than a few minutes because her appearance wasn't that weathered.

She had a sheathed weapon on her hip. The queen pixie perceived that the sheath was unbuttoned and ready to be drawn at any time. Worse yet, the girl already seemed poised for a fight, yet giving the false appearance that she was at ease.

Pity, it wasn't a man. She wanted a husband. In any case, she needed to sort out this newcomer.

"I say," the Queen said as she stood up before hovering in flight above her throne, "it's common intelligence for one to exit the same way they enter. Unless… you're a person of _rare_ intelligence? Is it rare when you demonstrate having any?"

"You calling me retarded?" Sienna asked in disbelief. "Your mine guard expected me to fly back up through a _trapdoor_. I got dumped into a pit with a bunch of slaves and you've got a mine-cart that goes directly to your throne room. So far as I'm concerned, you're the ones with an IQ that's even shorter than your friggin' height."

"Mm…hmm?" The Pixie Queen said with a smile. "Guards?"

Higgs' hand reached dangerously close to her knife, tensing as much as the royal pixie security.

"… Lower your weapons." Everyone looked up at the queen in surprise at the extreme adverse order she'd given, including Sienna. Instead, the queen smirked like she knew a secret. "I can well imagine you came here intending to purchase a tramorfidian crystal, didn't you? Perhaps we could help one another. I could give you one, with a fair exchange for a _job_."

The girl didn't reply.

"Care for some refreshments?"

…

"This is a change of pace." Higgs looked down at the table with the spread of food ranging from fresh fruits to perfectly cooked meats then back again at the Queen Pixie on the other side. "It's too much for just _refreshments._ "

"Hmm." The queen motioned for one of the servants to pour some wine into the girl's glass before she stopped them from tying a bib around her neck, telling them that she didn't want it. "What do you mean?"

Higgs chose her words carefully for the first time since coming to the pixie dimension. Not just because she could avoid conflict, but she was wondering if the Pixie Queen was possibly stupid and she needed to explain properly. "You and I couldn't possibly eat all this, even if I were _hungry_."

"You're not? I'd presumed you were. You're rather skinny, speaking frankly. Could use some more meat on your bones, pardon the euphemism, albeit the fact it fits the setting, you know?" At that, a servant nudged a plate of barbecued … _something_ … closer to the ginger-headed girl.

Just like that, some of the old Higgs resurfaced. "A lot of people know that pixie royalties sometimes eat their mates. You looking to fatten me up? Is that what this is?"

The queen wasn't shocked to hear the girl call her out on this and her expression remained much the same. "I might've entertained the idea courting you, but sadly, there's no such thing as having two queens. Besides, speaking candidly to someone who's not amongst my subjects… males are my preference… they have a unique _part_ that's both functional and is the tastiest-"

Sienna started to get up. "I think we've both wasted my time."

The queen cut an ample slice of her meat and took a bite. "Oh, don't make me inconvenience you. Please reseat yourself. As I see it, we're both _old_ enough to speak on these matters, so what's the harm?"

"I mean the crystal," Sienna lied, though still wanting to get to the point; "you said that you're going to give me one."

"You will get it, in time. It's being prepared. In the meantime, I thought we'd pass the time."

"Thanks for looking out for my welfare." Higgs looked down at the food but continued to keep her stance about not partaking of it. It was an obvious unspoken rule to _not_ eat strange food from strangers for fear of poison, and it didn't help much that she couldn't even identify it. "Still, talking about literally eating a guy's dick isn't my idea of fun times."

"No. No." The queen laughed cheerfully. "I meant the testicles, but I digress. I enjoy conversing with others from different cultures, particularly Mewmans. Their bluntness is rather refreshing. Speaking of Mewmans… I heard that their royalty was murdered. I believe that the suspects were stated to be Marco Diaz from the Earth, Queen Eclipsa and a former squire named Higgs."

The girl kept her cool. She could tell that the queen was extremely relaxed, _too_ relaxed; she'd had enough alarm bells ringing in her mind when she'd been invited to the queen's chambers instead of being executed on the spot. The pixie clearly wanted something from her, as no one was this cordial and friendly for no good reason. She looked down at the food before her and was glad she hadn't eaten any; it could've been drugged. Trying to get a sense of her spatial awareness, she noted that there were three others in the room with them, two being servants and the last being a guard. Dimensional scissors in use so close to the queen was likely out of the question, so she'd have to fight her way out, and there was probably a small army outside the door. The closest servant was unarmed but extremely muscular. The guard was the much same and more, armed with a large sword. She'd already planned out how to kill them all except for the queen and hold her as a hostage, Outside of her mind, a second after the pixie had inadvertently said the girl's name, Higgs answered.

"They are. I heard they got to the royalties with dimensional scissors, so I'm looking to protect me and mine with a warding crystal. I tried to come to buy one, but your secretary dropped me into your slave pit." The lie was effortless when it was layered with the truth. It was still futile.

"I came to this understanding as well…. That is if your pretense was real. You gave yourself away very easily… _Higgs_."

Sienna wasn't surprised to hear the woman say her name. Of course, she knew. Now, there were two reasons why she'd now be suddenly engaged in conflict; either Crystal Larceny for the tramorfidians that Marco had tasked her to get, or for murdering the King and Queen of Mewni, probably the latter. Everyone on Mewni knew her name now. Who knows, what if most of the magic affiliated multiverse did? The queen of the Pixies did, so who could dare to think otherwise?

No one made any sudden moves. Sienna appreciated the second to mentally prepare herself for a fight.

"You're one of those who killed the Royals of Mewni." It was framed almost as a question, but it was said as a matter of fact. "Allied with Marco, who supposedly declared war on the Magic High Commission? The crystals… you've been using them to have an advantage in combat against them, weren't you?"

More or less, that was originally a part of the plan and still was. Conversely, they hadn't even used the crystals yet. That was up to Marco, who had them in his grand design.

"And now you're here to get another one? If you wish, you can just leave… we wouldn't hold you. Or rather, you could continue to wait and hear out my proposition until we have a tramorfidian brought to you." Sienna's eyes widened in surprise, and the guard begged the Queen's pardon before asking her why she was abetting a criminal with such a horrible transgression such as regicide to their name. "I would rather avoid a confrontation, for one thing. It's clear she is no ordinary Mewman child. Executing her, if we were successful enough, we'd have ended up throwing more than a third of her army at her before everything was said and done." She turned back to face Higgs, smiling slyly. "Furthermore, I could tell that what you said earlier – despite how outlandish and inappropriate – is no mere bluff, and you're well capable. Besides, why not assist her? We're not allied to them. Besides, tongue in cheek… it's going to be good for business soon."

So, back to business. Sienna calmed down. Right. That was what the woman had wanted. She wanted to talk about _business_. Regardless, she asked the woman how she knew her identity. If there were posters in a whole slew of dimensions, then there was obviously going to be a huge problem after the Wellspring was dealt with.

"If you're worried about facial recognition," the queen said with her seeming uncanny ability to know what the Knight was thinking, "there isn't any, not that I know of. You only gave yourself away as a capable murderer and suspect when earlier you confidently said what you did. One capable as such that could've killed two people as powerful as they are, although you gave off the air as a common mercenary. However, the second thing – what struck me as odd was that you didn't just simply say that you didn't want any food, you insisted that it was a 'bit too much'."

"… And…?"

"Taking into account your brusque side of the conversation, you either have problems dealing with authority figures, or you detest the lavish lifestyles that royalties lead." Seeing Sienna's surprised reaction, the pixie queen smirked. "Is it primarily the _latter_? You went hungry as a poor child, perhaps? Did taxes leave your plate empty? Starving to death when there was plenty in the castle?"

The answers were broad and ostensible; two out of three was a pass, but this queen was scary good when it came to making guesses. Her meat was rare, and a bit of blood ran down her chin before she patted it away with a napkin. Just plain creepy, in fact, seeing her now grin bloodily like an animal in Sienna's opinion.

"So you want me to kill more royalties? I'm not going on a regicide spree. I only didn't like the Mewni nobles."

"That's well enough. Now, there's a spike in sales for tramorfidian crystals all over the multiverse. Everyone is fearful of being assassinated now, as the most powerful being killed in such a manner shows them how much more vulnerable they are. We've even been able to sell some of the premium stuff; it doesn't break free of ward towers because of improved manufacturing— we can attribute that to your thefts, oh I know that was you! Security can be _expensive_ , especially when the cost of replacements comes directly out of the client's pockets. However, the princess of Mewni, one of the said nobles you don't like, will demonstrate how _vulnerable_ she is by not having tramorfidian ward with her on Earth."

"I see where you're going with this." Truthfully, she wouldn't have minded killing Star, and if she could, then fine. If not, Marco would deal with her, and it would still end the same. The jarring news, though, was finding out that the princess was in the Earth dimension. "So, that's why I'm here? You giving me a job to kill Star Butterfly? And what's the pay? The crystal you promised?"

"Yes, it is. Additionally, I thought I'd further encourage and assist you by offering a larger crystal that not only wards dimensional scissor portals, but also magic. It's not very popular because many people only want to secure themselves against teleportation and NOT the other benefits of magic within their domain. But for the person targeting someone who uses magic, wouldn't you agree that it's more useful like this? In this situation, it would be more assurance of success against the princess, don't you think? It's a double win… _for each of us_."

Sienna wasn't going to lie. It would be. This wasn't quite what she was expecting but it was fair to say that her excursion was turning out even better than originally planned. For the first time, Sienna helped herself to some of the food, having established that the queen across the table had only laid out such a buffet to help coerce her into helping. Making a point, she asked her elder how she knew where Star was.

"Oh, her? Well, despite her shirking her bill and switching calling networks from us, _we_ were the ones who made her Call Mirror and her Compact Mirror Phone. It was easily tracked to earth. Care to see a monitor? Want to know where she is and what she's doing?"

Sienna didn't pause for a second. "Sure. It'd help."

The queen nodded, before gesturing to one of the servants who brought a platter over which doubled as some sort of magic tracker. It soon turned into a screen which she showed to Higgs, and the girl's jaw dropped when she saw where Star Butterfly was.

She was at Marco's house, knocking on the front door.

"Put a rush on that crystal." Higgs stood up quickly. "I need it right NOW."

Her loathing, self and otherwise, would have to wait too.

 **=X=X=**

 **Leaves**

"Hi Mr. Diaz, Mrs. Diaz!"

"Oh my… Star? It's you!" Rafael grabbed up the girl in a glomping hug, squeezing her tightly. Star's own wasn't that enthusiastic at first, but something soon changed in the princess, leading her to return the embrace so much more that she nearly snapped the man in two before she released him. "Ai, ai! "

"Oh, sorry!" Star giggled as Angie's act was much the same as Rafael's, only she returned the hug with similar force. It was if both the females were trying to out-hug the other, but both had different reasons. For one, they were simply trying to confirm that the other was real, and the other, trying to glean some happiness from her quasi-parents from Earth. "It's great to see you two again! I've missed you so much."

That was the unanimity amongst them, they were all feeling the same issue. Star's own, however, was much more complex than she'd care to admit.

"Come in, come in!" the man invited, "we were just about to have lunch." Angie reminded the girl to wipe her feet before coming inside, and she followed them to the kitchen. "So how have you been?"

"Ah, you know, Same old, same old. Could be better but – as always – I'm trying to make the most of it." They made it to the kitchen, where they continued to the talk as they sat down. "It's been rough."

"Rough? Were you on an adventure? It looks like it was very exciting."

At the man's choice of words, Star looked down at her clothes, muddied in some areas and tattered in the others. There was a large splotch of dried blood under her armpit from where she'd lugged the upper half of her father's corpse to his casket. She discretely lowered her hand to help hide it. "Mm… yeah. Yeah! It was an adventure. You know me, can't get enough of those. Gonna get as much of them as I can before I'm Queen of Mewni."

She was already the queen. She was Queen of Mewni, she supposed, as she laid her mother's nearly de-winged bloodless body into another coffin next to her father's own.

"I suppose I'd do the same thing if I were in your shoes," Rafael continued to say as he walked behind her to the kitchen. "Or make some sort of decree that I could go on adventures whenever I felt like it. You and Marco did all the time. It made things a lot _more_ interesting."

"It did, didn't it?" Angie agreed as she finished making the sandwiches once she got back into the kitchen. "Oh, you can wash your hands in the sink, Star." Making sure to keep her bloodied side away from the woman's viewpoint as they stood next to each other, she washed her hands carefully, hoping that she got all the blood and dirt from under her fingertips, scrubbing harder than the norm but despondently believing that they'd never be clean. "Um… Star?"

"Yeah?" The girl looked up.

"You kinda smell like smoke too. Maybe you'd just like to shower first?" The girl insisted that she was famished, and refused to shower first, asserting that she wouldn't have anything to change into anyway.

"Smoke? Was it a barbecue?" Rafael jumped in. Against her volition, the Butterfly recalled her screams of anguish as she watched the burning pyres of her parents, the proximity of the fires being the only thing keeping her warm from the chills of the night.

"No. Forest fire; a big one. I got it put out, though," Star lied. It was getting harder and harder to lie about these things, to play them off as they didn't matter. She didn't want to bring down the Diazes' mood by sharing her turmoil… instead, she was looking for some familial comfort from them, to get back some sense of normalcy. Despite this, in the grand scheme of things, Star hated knowing that her parents' death was barely insignificant. Worse yet, knowing that she could've brought them back to life but had to choose not to was only making her feel worse.

Being the God of Life sucked. She'd rather just be the Queen of Mewni any day.

"Wow!"

And worse yet, she knew that they were already well aware of what was going on. Jackie had been here earlier and explained what was taking place on Mewni. She wasn't fooling any of them. They were keeping up the façade as well as she did, not wanting to pry if she didn't let them in.

It was also why they didn't ask where and how Marco was. They were probably afraid to find out something even worse.

"Guys, this isn't right. I need to confess something. My parents… they…" Star slumped against the sink weakly, her mouth quivering while hot tears ran down her hearts and dripped off her chin, disappearing with the running water. Bawling quietly, Angie was the first to notice the girl's misery and dropped what she was doing to hold her by the shoulders. She could easily guess that something terrible had happened to the girl's family, as she wasn't one to cry so easily. Rafael came to the same conclusion, and both flanked the girl to embrace on each side. In doing so, the man noticed the dark discoloration of the girl's dress, resembling heavy bloodstains.

"What… what happened to your parents?" Rafael asked, scared to find out. Yet, he could assume the worst and his empathetic nature lead to his crying as well. "They will be all right, yes? Yes?"

"They're dead," the weeping girl choked out, trying to unburden herself of the secrets as she waggled a finger and granted a wish. Someone else, somewhere, was now far happier and she was left utterly miserable. A tiny leaf wilted and fell off the Tree and turned into ashes. "They're dead, they're dead!"

Angie gasped in her shock. "Oh my god." Strangely enough, Star looked up at her questioningly when she said this and it put the woman off, yet it didn't detract from the fact that the girl was still bawling her eyes out. Falling into a heap beside the cabinets built into the sink, the princess huddled against it, drawing her legs up close against her body. Mrs. Diaz knelt beside the girl and hugged her, trying to console her despite her bumbling words made it clear that she didn't know what to say. Rafael, on the other hand, while still on the girl's alternate side, was still fearful.

"Did Marco…" He tried to rephrase the question as he stared at the bloodstains. "Does Marco know about this? I thought he went to find you."

Star was fully aware of what was happening, thanks to her newly discovered sense of omniscience of what was going on in the multiverse. She knew what had happened to her parents, what was happening and a good deal of what was about to take place thanks to her acquired clairvoyance. All from Glossaryck.

She knew who killed her parents. She knew why they did it. She knew who helped them.

"Marco knows what happened, but I'm not going to hold it against him." She knew that she was about to tarnish Marco in his own family's views and wondered if she should tell them. Let alone all the facts, how could she even bring herself to mention that'd he had finished off her mother by nearly cutting her mother's head halfway off?

Regardless, this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. Her grieving spell almost over, she wiped away her tears as best as she could before going back to the dining area and sat down. She heard another wish somewhere and instead of ignoring it, she wagged her finger again and granted it. This time, a few more tiny leaves fell off of the Tree and turned to ashes. Followed by the adults, the girl's sudden change in emotion disturbed them as she helped herself to one of the sandwiches. "He's going to know the same things I know pretty soon, but he's still not on my level. I can't see too far, but he's Death. Sooner or later, no matter what or who you are, he'll catch up. That's his power. You can dodge death all you want, eat healthily, watch your weight and exercise, but he'll just keep getting stronger and stronger and faster and faster until he finally catches up and grabs you by the throat."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm the God of Life," the Butterfly said simply. "Or Goddess, 'cause I'm a girl. I prefer God _dess_. I guess I would've liked to NOT be a god. I just wish that things could go back to the way they were, or at least, me not replacing Glossaryck. It hadn't even been a full hour before I got sick of it. I can't even kill myself because that'll only kill someone else!"

"You're not making any sense. What's with this morbid topic?" Rafael asked worriedly. "Are you depressed because of what happened to your parents? Star, are you all right?"

"I'm okay. And believe me when I say that I'm the God of Life, just like how Marco is the new God of Death."

The two parents shared a look of confusion. Even _they_ had a limit on what they could understand, believe and accept.

"Jackie came here already. She told you that Marco wasn't coming back. You know about Janna, too. Marco was the one who killed her."

"Oh my god." Star looked at Angela again pointedly as if silently asking the woman what she wanted, and this behavior was starting to scare the Diazes. "Star, please tell me that you're not serious."

The girl propped up her head with her hands in melancholy. "It's hard to accept, I know. I can't even fully understand this myself, and I think I know almost _everything_ , I guess. Death is… a part of life. It's a part of me, just like I'm a part of him. Death has to happen to give meaning to life. It has to happen… and that's okay. In the same way, I have to accept that my parents aren't coming back, no matter how much I don't want them to die… I have to let them go. Looking back, I keep thinking… if we had destroyed the Wellspring all those months ago, none of this would've happened. Glossaryck and Appendaxuz would still be alive and in charge of things. Or this could be Glossaryck's fault for not working with his brother instead of against him. I don't know. I'm stuck with this until Marco eventually kills me, and who knows how long before that happens. But I can't allow that to happen, not until I know for sure what's up there in the Dimension of Magic. I can't quite…" Star reached forward clumsily as if trying to grab something that wasn't there, "…I just _can't_ see it yet. Maybe there was a good reason why Glossaryck didn't work with him?" She ate a bite of the sandwich and felt a bit saddened as she thought more about the food. She wondered if that was how her own story started… with a sandwich. It'd be ironic. She gazed back at Marco's parents, who were still trying to process the news but still finding it too thick to swallow. "It's a lot to take in, I know."

Another wish came in, a stupid one. She ignored it.

"Say we believe you…" Rafael mumbled lowly, "you said that our Marco – our son – is the god… of _death?_ "

"Murder is one thing. That's horrible. But it's excusable since it's his job now. A knight goes to war and kills his enemy… it's his job, no matter the methods… he has to fight and kill and win, and you have to excuse him. That's the same thing, but on a big scale for Marco, a HUGE SCALE. In the same way, it just like it's my job to decide who's born from who doesn't – I have to control who gets to be born. In my opinion, that's even _worse_. Even when we're gods, I envy Marco because he's always going to be fair; everyone has to die at _some_ point. But for me? I mean, I don't know who to allow to be born and live. I can't see the specifics of their lives unless I really try, and that'd take FOREVER to sift through especially when wishes are coming in every second. Everyone deserves a fair chance! Could be a good person. Or a serial rapist. Or a rich guy who helps people. Or a murderer. Most of the time, I then gotta use that same life from that baby in order to use magic and grant wishes all over the multiverse. Wait. Hold on."

She waved her finger again, creating a bumper crop just as the harvest was about to fail in a small farming village; around three miniscule leaves withered from the Tree and burned to ashes on their way down. She finished her sandwich and moved on to another one and took her time to swallow.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. Wishes, prayers, hopes, dreams... But at the end of it all, as you can imagine from ever since, Marco has to be the one cleaning up my messes when things don't work out." Star noticed when an aged, normal-sized leaf fell from the tree, and Star looked up. "Oh shoot, praedial larceny… and that bastard killed the old lady! Well, that as a waste of three baby lives, but what can I do about it? Maybe I should tell Marco, and sic him on that no-good lowlife." Star looked down. "Ugh. Feels like I'm talking too much. I'm sorry, are you still getting all this?"

"So… you're saying… our son is the god of **death** … so that means he'll also kill _us_ one day?" Angie remarked almost with casual acceptance.

"Well, yeah, either he does it or he allows it to happen. It's his job. The two of us will more or less control everything."

The rest of their lunch was very quiet and uneventful, though Star was the only one eating. She looked up at last to the couple who had seated themselves adjacent from her at the table. She felt guilty for bringing this kind of dreadful news to them, but she was still faring off better than how Jackie had to report to them about their son on Mewni. It did justify his killings by just a tiny bit, but it still didn't go over well with the Diazes. She wondered if she could turn back time to redo this conversation, but shivered as she thought about how many leaves it would cost to achieve such a feat. She decided not to.

"I have a question. Tell me which you think is worse. Killing someone, or knowing that you can bring a dead person back to life but you know that if you do, a thousand people have to die in exchange?"

They had no answer.

"You don't have to say anything, and I don't think mom and dad would've wanted me to do it. Anyway, someone's here to try to kill me. One of you might end up dying because of how my leaves work. I thought you should know, in case you want to get out of here. Or if you want, I could go."

"What… leaves… who?" Angie sputtered.

There was a sudden rapid set of knocks on the door.

"She's here."

The couple looked at each other in apprehension before staring at Star, who'd helped herself to another sandwich, apparently not finished yet at complete calm despite her now bizarre claims, waving her finger yet again. Having understood that there was now at least some credibility to what Star was saying (if she could predict that someone was about to arrive) but he still wanted to chalk it up to coincidence.

That would mean that his son was nothing but a common murderer.

It was hard, accepting that his son was a killer. Jackie, fortunately, had only spoken to them about the matter, and the Diazes had elected not to say anything about Marco to their community (or to Janna's parents, who'd found their daughter dead in her bedroom) because of how little they believed they knew.

Now they knew too much, Raf chuckled sadly to himself as he slowly approached the door.

"My son is the god of death. Star is the god of life."

Saying it out loud made it a bit easier for him to believe. They still understood very little; Star had unloaded so much on them, so fast. It still didn't detract from the fact that someone was outside, as Star said, here to attempt to kill her.

Rafael deliberated on whether or not he should call the police. For arresting someone for attempted murder, sure, but what Jackie had told them last night was still on their minds, they couldn't even sleep. Marco, their own son, was on Mewni leading an insurgency and killing people. Barely for any sort of cause and no justifiable reason. And Janna, his own friend? He murdered one of his closest friends!

The man's broad shoulders sagged hopelessly as he reached the door at last; he was very tired. "Yes, who is it?"

"It's me, Sienna. Marco's friend?" the muffled voice came from the other side. Everyone in the interior heard it and was unsure of how to react. Both Rafael and Angie easily recognized the name and the slight voice notwithstanding the slight distortion, and the man more eagerly reached to open the door. He hesitated once more, realizing that if Star was correct about this, then the girl waiting to be let in would try to kill her… and he or his wife would be the ones to perish instead.

How far would he go to learn the truth, or to believe it? Could he risk Star's safety? Could he accept dying just to fully grasp that his son was now the **grim** **reaper**? Could he allow his wife to die just to prove Star's point? The princess could be whimsical sometimes, maybe even stretch the truth on occasion but this was certainly too much. However, he was afraid to test the waters.

In spite of his feelings, he opened the door, almost unconsciously from his better nature. Sure enough, Higgs was standing outside, waiting on the doorstep. "Oh, hey Mr. Diaz. Can I come in?" He didn't answer right away, and Higgs noticed the strange grim look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no!" Angie called from the kitchen. "Come on inside! It's good to see you, Sienna!" The girl smiled appreciatively, glad to see the familiar good nature of the Diazes coming through, though the male of the two was obviously upset about something. Knowing that Star was here, Sienna had started to worry that she had done something to them out of reprisal for the death of her parents. She entered in and as she passed Rafael, the man stared at the weapon that hung from her hip. "Anyway, guess who's here? It's Star! What a coincidence, isn't it?"

"Really? She's here?" Sienna made it to the dining area, staring at Star who had yet to turn and face her. "Hey, princess. Fancy running into you here."

"Mm-hmm," Star mumbled between bites, still granting wishes every now and again. Pausing to swallow what was in her mouth, she thought about how much she was going to miss times like this, a time when she still had family, her own family as well as Marco's own. She turned her head sideways to look at the girl who was gazing hard at her, cocking it in faux curiosity and astonishment. "Higgs? I haven't seen you since the _Knighting Ceremony_. What'cha got there?"

Sienna shifted the messenger style bag that hung across her lower back uncomfortably, already aware of why the girl had stressed where she was last seen. "It's… um… treasure. Gonna sell it."

"Nah, you won't. You're gonna need it for the Wellspring. Right…?" The Knight was caught off guard at how the girl was aware of what she had and couldn't for the life of her figure out why she would even say it, much less in front of Marco's parents.

'She's trying to psych me out. What if she's using magic to see through the bag?' Her teeth gritted together in her uneasiness. 'Or worse, reading my mind? What if she knew I killed-… no, if you really can read my mind, stay the fuck out-!'

"Treasure? Mind if I see it?" Angie asked, curiosity playing over her features. Higgs acquiesced to the woman's demand without even hinting how much she wanted to refuse it, taking out the crystal to show Angie. The woman admired what she thought was a gigantic off-colored emerald and tried to make something out of what Star had said. "Didn't Marco say something about a 'Wellspring' a couple of months ago, honey?"

"I'm not so sure," he said quietly. By now, Sienna was absolutely sure that something was wrong. The man, from how Marco had described his parents, much less her interactions with them when she'd once slept over, was never this quiet. Angie was much the same as usual, she could admit, but altogether, they were much less vivacious and jovial. She retrieved the warding crystal from the woman and returned it to her bag, just as the man asked her why she'd stopped by.

Sienna froze. She hadn't thought of making up an excuse before coming. In fact, she'd rushed over because she believed that Star had come to get revenge or something of the like. Clearly, _something_ had happened but she didn't know what. Even more to the point, Star seemed… _aware_. She was not someone to be underestimated.

"Marco's a little tied up, and I was free so he thought that I should check up on you," she lied.

"No, he didn't." Star's statement was calm and quiescent, "you're just worried that I was going to do something to the Diazes because of what happened to my parents." With that said, she went back to eating, the platter of food nearly all gone.

Angie's smile faded, almost as if it had been fabricated the whole time. "Is that true?" she asked the Knight, whose concern and fear about the entire situation was growing by the second. "Star didn't come here do anything to us. All she did was cry. In fact, between her and Jackie, we know _everything_."

Sienna's jaw dropped as she looked to each of them in turn.

"And the reason why my husband let you in, or why I welcomed you was because we didn't want to believe her. Did you come here to _hurt_ Star?"

"No…" Higgs breathed, trying to find the right words. It was the hardest thing she'd done all day, knowing that Marco's parents were finding out everything that they had been doing on Mewni. "I came just in case she planned on doing something to any of you. Because her **parents** passed on and she might've thought Marco did it… and take revenge or something."

"You're not lying for worrying, but you should know that I'd never hurt the Diazes… they're like my own family. Besides, I know that you were the one who killed them," Star commented as if what she said didn't matter. "You, Marco, Hekapoo, Toffee, and Eclipsa killed nearly everyone in the castle. Just left me to bury or burn all the bodies you left behind."

To say that Rafael and Angie were horrified would be a massive understatement. More than anything else, seeing their reactions and solemn faces, Higgs wanted to leave and never come back and yet, she found herself still rooted to the spot. Why was Star even acting like this, saying all these things to the _last_ people who should never have found out? Her nonchalance was extremely disheveling.

"We had _just_ _cause_. We're trying to save the entire multiverse. Mewni's army got in the way."

"And my parents were in the way?"

"They had to go. You Butterflies suck up and use magic like damn sponges!" Higgs yelled.

"There can't be any possible good reason to kill someone!" Rafael shouted at the Knight, making her flinch. The man never raised his voice, particularly against anyone and it showed; even his wife was openmouthed even when she felt much the same. "Never!"

'Don't be stupid, Mr. Diaz. Sooner or later, there'll always be a good reason.' Higgs wisely kept that thought to herself as she didn't want to raise his ire. Much more to the point, she didn't want to upset the family anymore; she knew that they were good people at heart, and she cursed Star and Jackie in her mind for bringing the news to them. 'Couldn't they have kept their goddamn mouths shut?'

"So we used magic." Star shrugged her shoulders with indifference. "Don't get me wrong, magic isn't a good subject to talk about. But it's just like fire. You hurt people when you don't use it right, your campfire can burn down a woodland and yet still we need it to cook or keep ourselves warm… but for a fire to exist in the first place, something has to _burn_. In that same line, magic is about as useful as the person who wields it. I know you agree with me because you like using dimensional scissors, don't you?"

Higgs thought it through carefully. That was true. Despite wanting to change how magic worked and the fact that she now self-sustained her usage of dimensional scissors, she couldn't refute the princess's point.

"Regardless, the reason why you killed my parents wasn't because of magic. It was more personal."

"Your entire family are _**pigs**_ _._ They ruled the kingdom; I get that. You gotta eat after an honest day's work? I get that. You rule a kingdom, you get more food than everyone else, I GET THAT." Sienna hissed with impending violence. "But when you can sit high and mighty in a castle, safe from all the dirt and starvation and thieves and cutthroats and killer creatures and don't do a single thing to stop it from happening, then yeah I've got a goddamn problem!" Her hand twitched as it swayed dangerously close to her knife. "Your father wasted food during the damned three-year corn famine and I had to watch my parents waste away right in front of me!"

"I'm sad to hear this, but-"

"If you can rule Mewni better than them, then fucking be my guest. You keep using magic at the expense of everything and everyone else, _I'll cut you down too_!"

So she had a reason, and in the Diazes' opinion, it still wasn't a respectable one. They'd have enough and just as they were about to ask Higgs to leave, she turned around and did so herself. The girl could honestly emphasize with them. They were was no need to bring the war in the multiverse to their doorstep. After everything had been revealed, she believed that she could see what the parents were feeling. They were distraught, depressed, exhausted. Angie had been crying nonstop. Rafael looked sleep-starved. Their son was a murderer.

It wasn't easy for them to accept, and looking back for the past five minutes of utter stress, she knew they never will.

"…" She sighed. Turning back, she faced the Diazes. "I'm sorry that you've found about all this. More than that, I'm sorry that it _had_ _to_ _happen_. You're both good people, and I see you two in Marco every day. He's confused. He's upset. He knows that what he's doing is wrong but he has to convince himself all the time that it's for a good cause – we're the _good guys_. I know that you've felt the earthquakes. Everywhere has, and I can see the cracks in your _house_ ; it's not a coincidence! We're trying to stop the multiverse from ending, and that means the people who continue abusing magic…" Higgs pointed at Star accusingly, "…they need to be stopped, one way or another."

They didn't say anything.

"I can tell that she knows even more than she lets on, and I dare her to tell me that I'm wrong."

"You're right," Star admitted as if it was the easiest thing to acknowledge. "So far as I can tell, at least. Wait… hold on… a farmer's wishing for rain in Dimension Y-508. Oh geez. That's like two or three unborn people. Wait, make that only two people and one person being born with a _deformity_. I think that's okay, right?" She waggled a finger with some exaggeration; a few leaves fell off of the Tree, though one withered on its twig and remained. "Alright, done. Not gonna use names… I don't like getting to know the baby names so it doesn't hurt my conscience as much… but that farm might've gotten more rain that way… More people fed, probably?"

"Wait, hold on, you said that Sienna is right?" Angie asked in disbelief.

"I'm actually more focused on that rain bit," Rafael mumbled as he recalled the girl saying that she was the God of Life and was granting wishes. Higgs was in the same boat, trying to figure out the girl's prattle.

"Are you making fun of me?" she demanded. "Are you even taking this seriously?!"

"With all that's happening, I think I'm gonna go mad until I get bored of that too," the Butterfly commented with a smile before her expression faltered into something more dejected as she made her reply to Higgs. "I'm _serious_. And you being the _good guy_? Please. Have you thought through about what happened during the famine? Using your own words, your parents were the actual cutthroats, and they were thieves. We had just enough security to bar them out of the storehouses. And let me guess? They were among the only people who starved because they didn't have official jobs in the census. Food was rationed out to every honest person, and every honest person lived. Everyone who died? Let's just say that 'Bandit' isn't something that pays honest taxes."

In an instant, Higgs's knife was in her hand. "My parents weren't thieves, you fucking bitch! You need to get your facts straight!"

Star finally got out of her seat, the entire platter of sandwiches now gone. "Higgs, I don't hold a single thing against you for killing my parents. Being immortal, I would have had to watch them die at some point. Right now…" Star's cheek marks glowed brightly and warningly. The image of an immensely foliaged tree of leaves of differently aged colors and sizes glimmered into existence behind her, with a yellow and purple luminescence radiance. Higgs stared in amazement before it all faded away like a mirage and brought back to what the God of Life was saying. "I'm the only person in here who truly knows how BIG the multiverse is and I can't deal with the _dead_ when there's so much else I have to be responsible for. The lives of every man, woman, child, and _FETAL UNBORN_ are riding on _**ME**_!"

As her cheek marks faded, the Butterfly stared at Higgs as if she was hardly anyone or anything consequential. She waved her finger to the side, giving Sienna the impression that her adversary wasn't entirely there in the conversation and was still doing whatever responsibilities she claimed to have.

"I still know your parents better than you do, and you don't know what I know. Although they sacrificed to feed you, well-intentioned and all, it still came down to one thing. You ate _stolen_ food, taken from a curio shop owner who was going to feed his two-year-old son. So you can spare me your righteous _act_."

What happened next, however, was just as well expected by Star as she watched Sienna approached her slowly. The two girls stood across from each other, the Black Knight opposite the White King. The Diazes were more or less beside Star, worried for her safety against the girl who gripped a huge knife in her hand and had a glare like green arctic.

One had every advantage over the other, regardless of who moved first. Star was undaunted as she looked Higgs in the eyes and said:

"I don't want to kill you. Marco needs you and will even more, more than you can imagine. You're a warfighter, Higgs, but fighting me means going up against THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE, and that's a war you can't win. _Leave_."

She was Marco's knight, his sword. She was first into the fray, as fearless as the best. Undeterred, Sienna Higgs took on the multiverse, but still came up short.

* * *

 **=X=X=**

 **Lies**

They had been walking for a long time along a lengthy road towards the east, Toffee guessed if the sun rose in the same way it normally did on most dimensions. "This place is starting to look more and more familiar. Design-wise, I mean." Toffee looked around at his surroundings, a hint of a smile teasing his mouth. "I never would've imagined that Hekapoo would send us here? It makes sense."

"You know this dimension?" Eclipsa queried strangely.

"I've been here before," Toffee said vaguely as he shifted the poleaxes on his back, "and these people resemble Mewmans. Trouble is, I think my form here is sabotaging your assignment. How to put it simply… my appearance is monstrous to them, and we can't find anyone decent if they're so judgmental." A woman who was walking on the road towards them seemed to have noticed Toffee for what he really was, and ran away in the opposite direction, screaming 'monster' at the top of her lungs as she went.

"I don't care what _you_ look like and you don't care you look like, so why care about what they think?"

"That is true. Let's allow them to continue seeing me. As long as they scream when they see me, we'll know that they're doomed as a species."

"On second thought," Eclipsa contended with growing uncertainty, "you should hide. Give them a fair chance, you think?"

"How about we go tell her to destroy Mewni instead?" Toffee questioned, his small smile now growing to something akin to a snarl as he watched the woman's expression begin to sour. "It's my own home as well and I can easily make such a paltry sacrifice. Mewni is an atrocious dimension and you know that I speak the truth. It also goes to show how you've been so easily given to watch as we nearly decimated the kingdom of bigots you belonged to, all in the hopes of freeing your husband from his crystal when the Wellspring is destroyed."

"You have your own selfish reasons for helping this cause. You want to die."

"I would have been fine just being a spectator mind in all of this, yet you dragged me back into it. I could've let the multiverse burn for all I care… but I would've helped you for old time's sake so long as you guaranteed I'd finally die. Yet – you of all people who knew my **circumstances** – you added _incentive_ to ensure I would co-operate."

"I have no idea what you mean," Eclipsa replied, looking up and down the road that seemed to be populated with large houses. As far as she could tell, many homes meant having a higher chance of finding even ten people worthy of allowing the dimension to be spared. "Now will you watch over me from a distance or _not_?"

Toffee chewed savagely on his lower lip until he drew blood, before spitting it at the ground. The dark purplish blood landed on a rock and sizzled there before its corrosive properties began to eat through it. He waited until the silence between him and the queen grow uncomfortable, wanting to see if she would comment on the state of his blood.

She didn't.

"You had to make every second I live… even _worse_. That's your way of guaranteeing my further collaboration. By torturing me."

"I'm aware of the state of your blood, and you have my sympathies. As I've said before, it's a side effect from the spell of recreating your body."

"Of course it is," he stated calmly in one of his bizarre demeanor changes. "Forgive my _baseless_ _accusation_." Carrying out her request from earlier, much like the reptile he was, he started to scale a building and stood on top, before giving her a mock-friendly wave. Feeling ill at ease now, the Black Queen turned and started walking down the street. As he watched her proceed about her objectives, he wondered if it would be right to hope to see her fail. "Then again, I wonder if Marco would approve of this if he found out that we're going to destroy a dimension."

It made little sense, yet it was perfect at the same time. The idea of sacrificing an entire dimension just to save the rest of the multiverse was basically the same as amputating a sick limb… only, this time, they were cutting off one of liveliest dimensions to save the rest of the sickly body.

Hekapoo had a sick sense of morals sometimes but then again, all of the commission used to do this dimensional _cleansing_ , for a lack of being able to coin it differently. It'd been thousands of years between some of the dimensional purges. Regardless, it caused Toffee to think through all of this a lot more clearly. Back then, the deaths of so many wouldn't really faze them when the multiverse was so large.

But he still had one question that he couldn't quite figure out. As was explained, lives and magic were practically the same thing. Lives came from the dimension of Magic, and the Wellspring was just a siphon that redirected some (or most) of that selfsame energy to provide the means for people to perform magic.

Now there's a thought. And it would answer a lot of other, smaller questions. It would explain why dimensional _cleansing_ would return lives (magic) to the wellspring, ready to be recycled, so to speak… It would also explain that whenever they killed something or someone of great magical importance, such as when Rhombulus died, Mewni stabilized after endless quakes had rocked it for days, and probably was the same throughout the multiverse, and one particular dimension would shake a bit whenever someone performed magic on it.

Perhaps Hekapoo _should_ die.

"If she were to die, her immortal parasitic life would return to the dimension of magic. Regardless if it's used for magic or simply helping to hold everything together, a massive amount of magical life-force like hers should still be enough for the rest of us to use to open portals normally through No Man's Land. No, that's why we're doing this. We _need_ her to navigate through it, so that's why we're destroying a dimension to provide a lot of magic that the Wellspring would have available for her to use without further repercussions."

Toffee leaped to another building, taking care to keep out of sight while still watching over Eclipsa below. "But why would she choose **this** dimension? Wouldn't it make more sense to destroy Mewni instead? We would end a lot of magic users and a decently populated dimension at the same time." His thoughts came and went in confusion. He hadn't heard enough, and he wasn't aware of all the details. One thing was certain, however, was that things weren't adding up.

He tried to calm himself down. His heightened blood pressure made his corrosive innards hurt worse.

…

He followed after Eclipsa from moving from rooftop to rooftop. They had been at this for two hours, and at some point, a small boy had ended up following after her in the shade of her umbrella to shelter from the heat as they basically _interviewed_ people; Toffee would've laughed if the matter wasn't so convoluted. Regardless, more than once he had to step in to defend the Queen and the boy from thieves and others who tried to assault them. "Why would Hekapoo send us _here_? It makes no sense." He headed to the largest building close by and looked out into the distance. Even if it was just a bit, there was just the tiniest bit of sand in his nostrils. They were either close to a beach or a desert, likely the latter. The heat would make more sense if that was the case, as it would mean that they were in a town built close to the desert.

It makes absolutely no sense, he thought, especially since Marco was so adverse to Mewni and for good reason… why not finish putting that dimension to the sword? It would further Hekapoo herself into his good graces, so… why not?

Even worse, he couldn't tell if Eclipsa knew which dimension she was on.

Then again, as the opposite, she probably knew exactly which dimension she _wasn't_ on.

Just perfect. Simply perfect. Either way, Hekapoo hadn't told Marco, and Eclipsa hadn't told him either. Someone – or everyone – was up to something.

And just like that, he figured it out. Having thought it through, he wasn't surprised to see Omnitraxus Prime a few minutes later, either, having somehow become aware of their presence in this dimension and was searching for them in his large sole-head state. Leaping down to join Eclipsa in the road, he looked the woman dead in the face as serious as a judge. "Have you found the people?"

Eclipsa shook her head.

No surprise. It was a ridiculous tactic to begin with.

"Then let's get Hekapoo. She'll help us kill Omnitraxus, and can destroy this dimension at the same time. I wonder how she even knew Omni was here, to begin with?" Eclipsa didn't reply. Instead, she cautioned the boy to hide until she came back for him, and was about to attempt to open the portal when the Septarian stopped her. "Since you might've been drained earlier and that you might need everything you've got left to throw at this behemoth…"

"THERE YOU ARE!" Omnitraxus said as he finally saw the pair on the street, noticeable as the only people standing still when everyone else running away from him screaming in hysterics while a few others seemed to be trying to hurt him somehow. They ran in the opposite direction and turned down another street, and the lizard absentmindedly spotted a sort of sign that he idly read 'E Bonanza' just as they did. They continued to run until they found a hiding spot behind one of the large houses, and Toffee continued where he left off.

"… Let **me** open the portal."

The queen gave in to his demands easily, and the lizard ripped a blood-red portal open. As he did so, he smirked, just the tiniest bit.

 **=X=X=**

 **Location(?)**

The demigoddess cursed to herself bitterly when she saw them, figuring out why Eclipsa had returned. Hekapoo had thought that she had more time. They were too early. Much too early.

"We were unsuccessful," Toffee stated as he stared at both her, wondering why Sienna looked so beat up and Marco in a state of shock, "and Omnitraxus Prime found us there."

There was lengthy suspense, and Hekapoo could tell that Marco was struggling to choose between Star and her brother. But this was so goddamn strange to her too. Why was the portal so red? An anomaly because of how magic was getting limited in the universe?

Marco was staring too, trying to puzzle out what was going on with Hekapoo, the strange portal and the others having been gone on some expedition but he felt that Star was the most important thing to deal with. "Maybe we should all focus on Star-…"

"You go with Higgs!" Hekapoo yelled, making his choice for him by slightly pushing him towards his knight while turning to head in the other direction. "I'll go with those two to deal with my brother!" Without any further hesitation, she went to the Queen and Bishop and entered the portal, making their departure quickly. They'd come out of and soon, they too also made their exit through it before it ultimately closed. On the other side, the trio re-emerged and Hekapoo looked at the surrounding in confusion. "This isn't Mewni. I know I sent you there!" Hekapoo folded her arms, furious. "Did you override the scissors? At a time like this?!"

Toffee nearly laughed; he figured just as much when he used the scissors without any clear destination in mind, and yet they still brought him back to No Man's Land where their camp was. Eclipsa looked very guilty as she stuttered, "Does it matter? I didn't find anyone worth saving in a place like this, save for one boy who took a liking to me! I've lost count of how many times these barbarians have tried to rob me or carry me off! I can't even talk to them for a few minutes before they conclude that I'm insane."

Toffee got the feeling that she had intentionally sabotaged her own attempts, and deliberately put him at a distance so he couldn't see what she had been up to.

"That so?" Hekapoo grumbled. "Doesn't look familiar, so I'm not sure I've ever been here before. Well, not in recent times, at least." Hekapoo peeked around a corner to see Omnitraxus tearing the place apart, and people screaming. Some people appeared to be fighting back, but it didn't bother the demigod much, tanking right through them. Most were blown to bloody bits, aged regressed to infants or simply teleported into the far depths of space. At his expenditure of magic, the quakes started to begin anew and Hekapoo growled, wondering if he had the same goal as she did. "Poor bastards look like Mewmans."

"I thought that too-"

"Doesn't excuse what you did!" Hekapoo shouted down the queen, upset. "I sent you to Mewni! The only reason I haven't left yet is 'cause I'm still trying to figure out what to fucking do!"

"You mean how to kill him?"

"He's got a few chinks in his invulnerability, so I know how to kill him."

"Then there's no issue," Eclipsa said, butting in. "The place is a den of thieves, the dimension is probably densely populated and that means _lives_ that go back into stabilizing the multiverse, not to mention Omni's life as well. If and when he dies, his life and powers alone should be enough to stabilize everything and you…" the queen laughed nervously, yet in a way that implied that she knew exactly what she was doing, "won't have to swear yourself to Diaz, just like you originally wanted! It will work out. So if you're going to kill Omnitraxus, then do it _here_."

"Preferably with a lot of collateral damage," Toffee whispered as he looked down, though they barely heard him clearly. 'So long as it's not Mewni, right Eclipsa? That's where your husband is, as well as most of the other monsters. It's the one sacrifice you refused to make. You didn't want Hekapoo to destroy Mewni at the risk of losing your dear old hubby. So you brought her… like an idiot… to _EARTH._ '

He knew from the minute he came that he was in the Earth Dimension, but didn't let it on to his partner. Eclipsa had no idea how they dressed, how they traveled, how they talked, how they lived. Sure, most of them were violent, but which dimension didn't have its fair share of lowlifes? She only knew for certain that it wasn't Mewni, and that was good enough for her. Always preaching that evil was necessary and yet couldn't forfeit the things she held dear. He had to die and resume living in an acidic body when it wasn't even fucking necessary. Sienna had to abandon her home and killed her fellow squires and mentors. Hekapoo was fighting her kin and Mewni. Marco had to fight and kill his friends. And when it was Eclipsa's turn, she couldn't do the same.

He really ought to tell Hekapoo, but he wasn't sure if it would be the worst option in the long run. He was aware that Earth had a lot of people, so it stood to reason that the whole dimension would be brimming with lives that would return to the Dimension of Magic. Not speaking was _his_ sacrifice. The death of the size shifter they both witnessed was messing with the queen's ability to make intelligent decisions. When the fallout came from those poor choices, from her lies and unwillingness to make sacrifices just like everyone else, Marco's potential wrath against her, it'd be her comeuppance for recreating him the way he was. Who knew how far she was back-plotting to save her husband from dimensional annihilation? When he first saw Omnitraxus Prime here, he had suspected that the queen had somehow brought him to the dimension in an effort to keep the battle away from the dimension where Globgor's immovable crystal prison was.

Maybe he should warn the demigoddess. Both Hekapoo and Marco were in a relationship… and the latter wouldn't take too kindly to the fact that his woman would end up obliterating his home dimension, especially since they weren't magic-inclined and Mewni was the bigger liability. He looked up at last, about to ask Hekapoo whether she truly knew the dimension or not, but he didn't see her. She already left the hiding place to go fight her brother, apparently having made up her mind. He left the alley with Eclipsa behind him, and they gazed at the scene.

The Bishop shook his head to himself in astonishment. The demigoddess really didn't know-... she probably didn't recognize it at all. Eclipsa was smiling in satisfaction. He would have been impressed at her scheming, but he wasn't. The woman was far too selfish and stupid. She could've instead worked out a way to retrieve her husband from Mewni, or even the other monsters she was partial to that she was trying to save, but instead accidentally chose to burn the Earth.

'I wonder where Marco's fighting Star…? Maybe it's on Mewni. As for these two's intents and purposes, they hope he'll never find out about this until at least when everything is over.'

As Toffee looked up at the skyline, he could see dozens of Hekapoos standing on buildings, some in the streets, all muttering spells of some sort while holding up their left hands to the sky. Tilting his head back to gaze further into the sky when he thought they were pointing, he could see multiple suns looming in through the clouds overhead, he didn't know whether to smile or frown.

Marco wasn't going to be happy.

Toffee solemnly watched as the fires began to rain down from the sky on Las Vegas.

* * *

 **End of Part One:  
Loathing & Leaves | Lies in Las Vegas**

 **Longest chapter for this story so far, and I had to break it to start the fights next chapter.**

 **If any of you have any idea about that setup, I guess E Bonanza road was probably a giveaway hint almost at the end about the dimension, state, and city. The place is notorious, too. Haven't been there me'self, but to hear people talk about** _ **that**_ **street and the surrounding neighborhood, it almost sounds as if people are deliberately trying to drive down rent prices on purpose – interpret** _ **that**_ **as you will. Also, if you know the significance of Nellis Air Force Base that's basically in the same vicinity in the desert to the North-East, then you can be sure even the Earth is getting involved in the fights too. I mean, fuck, we sure as hell aren't gonna take what looks like a fiery purification apocalypse from a bunch of aliens.**

 **Gonna be a three-way fight between a warfighter, a Queen, an immortal lizard, a couple of demigods, actual GODS, and Earth. Go get religion.**

 **Anyway, review what you thought.**


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